Iran: Abdul Reza Sheikhan, the secretary of the Cement Industry Association, has warned that an increase to maritime shipping rates is further restricting exports in conjunction with US-backed trade sanctions. He said that the country has a production capacity of 87.5Mt/yr, that 48Mt is consumed domestically and that less than 15% is exported, according to the Islamic Republic News Agency. He also identified ‘negative’ competition between cement producers over exports has damaged the industry. To counter this, export teams in the east, west and south of the country have been formed.

The country exports cement to 17 countries including Iraq, Afghanistan, the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) region, Bangladesh and countries in Africa. It is the sixth largest exporter in the world.

Kazakhstan: Steppe Cement’s sales revenue rose by 32% year-on-year to US$74.8m in 2018 from US$56.6m in 2017. Its cement sales volumes rose by 6% to 1.72Mt from 1.63Mt. Its exports grew by 50% to 0.22Mt from 0.15Mt. Overall, the cement producer said that local cement consumption fell by 4% to 8.6Mt.

China: China Resources Cement (CRC) says that its profit will rise ‘significantly’ in 2018. It has attributed this to a 29% rise year-on-year in the average price of cement in the first 11 months of 2018.

Saudi Arabia: Data from Yamama Cement shows that national cement production fell by 10.5% year-on-year to 42.1Mt in 2018 from 47.1Mt in 2017. Cement production fell at the majority of local producers with the notable exceptions of Saudi Cement, Southern Cement and others. Clinker production dropped by 3% to 48.3Mt from 49.9Mt. Local deliveries of cement decreased by 13% to 41Mt from 47.1Mt. However, exports of cement rose to 1.1Mt from 0.16Mt and exports of clinker increased to 3.2Mt from no exports in 2017.