Displaying items by tag: Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia: Al Jouf Cement Company has awarded a contract to Rabou’ Al Taybeh for the export and sale of its clinker. Local press has reported that the contract has a value of US$8m and a duration of six months, subject to renewal.

Saudi Arabia: Sinoma CDI says that it has won a contract with Eastern Province Cement for the construction of a new 10,000t/day line at the producer’s 3.5Mt/yr Al Khursaniyah cement plant. The new line will more than double the plant’s capacity to 7.15Mt/yr and cost US$271m, according to Mist News.

Saudi Arabia: Utilities provider Saudi Aramco has notified Saudi Arabian cement producers of a rise in the price of its feedstock and fuel products from 1 January 2024. Zawya News has reported that Saudi Kayan Petrochemical Company forecast the effect of the price rise to be a 1.2% increase in producers’ cost of sales in 2024.

Yanbu Cement said “The impact of changing the price of fuel products will lead to an increase in the cost of production.” Umm Al-Qura Cement echoed the concern, while Saudi Cement Company said that it is working out the extent of the financial impact and will study ways to mitigate it.

Saudi Arabia: Arabian Cement has appointed Mutaz Kusai Hassan Al Azzawi as its chair. It has also designated Saud Abdulaziz Abdullah Al Sulaiman as its vice chair. Both roles start in January 2024 and run until the end of 2027.

Saudi Arabia: Riyadh Cement Company awarded a US$34.8m contract to China-based Sinoma Energy Conservation to install a waste heat recovery (WHR) plant at its 3.7Mt/yr Riyadh cement plant. The installation will have a power generation capacity of 12.6MW.

Northern Region Cement announced this week that it is planning to build a new cement production line in Iraq. It has signed an engineering, procurement, and construction deal with Germany-based KHD and its parent company AVIC for the supply of a 1.3Mt/yr production line. The contract has been valued at US$139m with a duration of 16 months, suggesting that the earliest the new plant might be commissioned would be from early 2025.

The Saudi Arabia-based company operates an integrated cement plant at Arar in Northern Borders Province and an integrated plant at Muwaqar, near Amman, in Jordan. It also took over a grinding plant in Basra, Iraq, in 2017 and runs this via its Um-Qasr Northern Cement subsidiary. It has not been disclosed so far where the new production line in Iraq will actually be or what type of equipment is being supplied. However, the price suggests a clinker pyro-processing line.

The timing of this project is noteworthy as it follows a number of other such announcements so far in 2023. In mid-August 2023 China-based Sinoma International Engineering said that it had signed a US$219m deal with Al-Diyar Company for Cement Industry and Industrial Investment to build a 6000t/day clinker production line with a 50MW captive power plant. The project is located in the Samawah area of Al Muthanna Province. First clinker production is scheduled from mid-2025. This followed the start of construction at another project in the Erbil province in the Kurdistan region of the country in June 2023. Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani laid the foundation stone for a new 6000t/day cement plant. The DCCP Cement and Power plant is being built by local partner Dabin Group and China-based China Power Investment Corporation (PowerChina).

In May 2023 Pakistan-based Lucky Cement revealed that it was preparing to build a second production line at its integrated plant at Samawah. It runs the plant under the Najmat Al Samawah joint venture together with UAE-based Al Shumookh Group. The first 1.31Mt/yr line at the plant was started up in 2021. It said that the new proposed 1.82Mt/yr production line was intended to take advantage of renewed economic activity in Iraq, benefit from increasing numbers of construction projects and further supply clinker to Lucky Cement’s grinding plant joint-venture at Basra. Construction work on the new line was expected to start by September 2023 with a completion date scheduled by mid-2025. Earlier still in March 2023 the Iraqi General Cement Company signed a deal with Turkey-based Zodiac for the latter to build a new 1.8Mt/yr plant at the Hammam Al-Alil Complex in Nineveh Governorate.

The Cement Manufacturers Association in Iraq (CPA) has reported various meetings in 2023 it has held with the Minister of Industry and Minerals with the aim of supporting the sector. In March 2023 it was discussing developing a five year plan to increase cement production with the aim of surpassing a capacity of 40Mt/yr. For reference the Global Cement Directory 2023 placed local capacity at just under 10Mt/yr. Then, in June 2023, the conversation had moved on to talking about awarding new licences to build plants on a regional basis, warnings that capacity is growing too fast and setting standards.

All of this is positive news 20 years on from the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 and the insurgency that followed. The local economy has benefited from high oil prices and a period of political stability, followed by infrastructure investment. Holcim runs two cement plants in Iraq via its Lafarge Iraq subsidiary and it noted “strong domestic cement demand” in the country in 2022. The number of new cement plant projects so far in 2023 underlines a new confidence in the market. Unfortunately the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip threatens to undermine the previous period of calm should hostilities spread. However, the news from Northern Region Cement about its proposed new plant suggests that some level of business confidence remains for now.

Saudi Arabia: Saudi Cement’s sales rose by 9% year-on-year in the first nine months of 2023, to US$288m from US$264m. The producer’s net profit also rose, by 13% to US$73.9m from US$65.1m.

Saudi Arabia: During the third quarter of 2023, Southern Province Cement reported sales of US$76.2m. This represents an 11% drop year-on-year from US$86.1m during the same quarter in 2022. Reuters has reported that the company noted lower local demand for cement. Meanwhile, its net profit dropped by 41% to US$14.1m from US$23.7m, amid a year-on-year rise in operating expenses.

Saudi Arabia: Hail Cement recorded sales worth US$46.2m in the first nine months of 2023, down by 35% year-on-year from US$71.5m in the first nine months of 2022. Nonetheless, the producer’s net profit more than tripled to US$5.7m from US$1.57m. During the third quarter of the year, the company’s sales dropped by 50% year-on-year to US$13.7m, and it reported a loss, against a profit of US$1.59m in the third quarter of 2022.

Saudi Arabia: The board of directors of Umm Al-Qura Cement Company has appointed Mohamed Fadl Kamel Al-Hawi as its interim chief executive officer. Previous company head Majid Tarik Gharbawi resigned in August 2023 with effect from mid-October 2023.

Mohammad Al-Hawi holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals. His cement industry experience spans over 30 years, including his role as plant manager of the Umm Al-Qura Cement Company plant.