Displaying items by tag: Saudi Arabia

Kenya: A report by the National Independent Clinker Verification Committee has found that the country has a clinker shortage of up to 3.3Mt/yr. It added that 59% of the imported clinker to compensate for this originates from Egypt without any tariffs, according to the East African newspaper. The committee was originally set up by the government in response to lobbying from industry to increase the duty on imported clinker to 25% from 10% at present. However, the committee also reported that Egypt has benefited from a free trade agreement. Local producers are divided against the proposal to raise tariffs on clinker as some of them reply on imports.

The report found that 3.8Mt of clinker was produced locally in 2020 against a demand of 5.3Mt. Local producers were reported to have been operating at a 65% capacity utilisation rate. Egypt and the UAE accounted for 92% of all clinker imports with a further 7% supplied by Saudi Arabia.

US: The US Geological Survey (USGS) recorded a 0.8% year-on-year increase in total US cement shipments in the first half of 2021 to 50.4Mt from 50.0Mt in the first half of 2021. Domestic deliveries constituted 85% of the total at 42.6Mt, against 7.75Mt of imports (15%). Clinker imports were 1.23Mt, with a total value of US$81.6m. Turkey was the lead exporter of clinker to the US in 2020 at 470,000t (38%), followed by Saudi Arabia with 466,000t (38%) and Canada with 276,000t (22%).

Saudi Arabia: Southern Province Cement Company (SPCC) registered revenues of US$76.4m in the second quarter of 2021, a year-on-year fall of 15.3% compared to US$90.2m a year earlier. SPCC’s revenue was impacted by a 10.9% year-on-year fall in cement sales volumes, which came to 1.4Mt/yr for the quarter. SPCC’s gross and operating profits fell by 27.2% and 28.3% respectively year-on-year. The fall in profitability was at the back of lower volume and the resulting fall in operating leverage.

Cement volumes across the whole of Saudi Arabia fell grew by 21.3% year-on-year, while the Southern region saw sales fall by 5.1% year-on-year. Thus, SPCC underperformed relative to its peers by this metric.

Market Analyst Al Rajhi Capital said “Going forward, we expect cement volumes of SPCC to remain under pressure in the third quarter of 2021 on the back of lower construction activity due to uncertainties relating to the new building permit norms and shortage in labour.”

Bahrain: Saudi Arabia-based Saudi Cement has increased its share in its Bahraini subsidiary United Cement Company (UCC) by 37% to 100%. The purchase of additional shares cost it around US$7.5m in May 2021. UCC is an importer and distributor of bulk cement. It operates a marine terminal and was founded in 1999.

Saudi Arabia: Qassim Cement plans to build a new 10,000t/day production line at its Buraydah cement plant to replace some of the site’s existing lines. Construction will begin in the first half of 2022. The company will announce the cost of the project after completing preliminary studies.

Saudi Arabia: Saudi Cement’s consolidated sales totalled US$207m in the first half of 2021, up by 3.9% year-on-year from US$199m in the first half of 2020. Its net profit for the period took an 8.2% drop to US$54.9m from US$59.8m.

Saudi Arabia: Najran Cement’s revenue grew by 13.7% year-on-year to US$82.3m in the first half of 2021 from US$74.1m in the same period in 2020. Its net profit after zakat and tax increase by 27.9% to US$24.9m from US$19.5m. It reported lower sales and profit in the second quarter of 2021 due to Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr.

Saudi Arabia: Yanbu Cement’s first-half sales were US$143m in 2021, up by 23% year-on-year from US$116m in the first half of 2020. Net profit fell by 11% to US$30.7m from US$34.5m. The company said that a local price drop and an increased cost of sales offset increased sales to yield the drop in profit.

Egypt: Saudi Arabian-based Mohammed Hassan Al Naqool Sons has started pilot production at its Cement Industries subsidiary based in El Alamein. The project has an investment of around US$5m. It will manufacture cement-based products, including blocks and concrete. Commercial production at the site is expected to start in the third quarter of 2021.

Saudi Arabia: Southern Province Cement Company plans to upgrade its Jizan cement plant in Abha with a new 10,000t/day clinker production line to replace the plant’s existing clinker lines. The producer plans to launch the project in mid-late 2021.