Displaying items by tag: Oman Cement
Oman Cement launches new brand identity
21 September 2018Oman: Oman Cement has launched a new brand identity and logo. The changes to its marketing are intended convey its strong brand value proposition that is synonymous with quality, strength and reliability, according to the Muscat Daily newspaper. The new brand identity is hoped to help the company’s sales and market share.
Raysut Cement joins list of Sharia-compliant companies in Oman
20 September 2018Oman: Raysut Cement has been added to a list of Sharia-compliant companies for the second quarter of 2018 compiled by the Muscat Securities Market. It joins Oman Cement, which was listed in the first quarter of 2018, according to the Oman Daily Observer newspaper. The list includes 31 publically listed companies that conform to the requirements of Islamic Sharia according to the rules approved by the Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions, Companies on the list cover a cross-section of industrial sectors.
Oman: Oman Cement has been included on a list of Sharia-compliant companies for the first quarter of 2018 compiled by the Muscat Securities Market. The 32 companies on the list conform to the requirements of Islamic Sharia according to the rules approved by the Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions, according to the Oman Daily Observer newspaper. Companies on the list cover a cross-section of industry including building materials, banking, food production and more.
Al Wusta Cement appoints Abdullah Abbas Ahmed as chairman
18 October 2017Oman: Al Wusta Cement Company has appointed Abdullah Abbas Ahmed as its chairman and Ahmed bin Yousuf bin Alwai Al Ibrahim as its vice-chairman. The officials were nominated at a meeting of the representatives of two joint venture partners Raysut Cement Company and Oman Cement Company. The new cement company plans to build a plant at Duqm in 2018.
Duqm economic zone signs usufruct agreement with Al Wusta Cement
06 October 2017Oman: The Special Economic Zone Authority of Duqm (SEZAD) has signed a usufruct agreement with the Al Wusta Cement Company to establish a cement plant in Duqm. As per the terms of the deal the Al Wusta Cement has received a 500,000m2 plot in the zone for a duration of 50 years, according to the Oman News Agency. The new cement producer is a joint venture between Oman Cement and Raysut Cement.
Al Wusta Cement plans to start building the plant in 2018 with production scheduled for 2020. The unit will start with a production capacity of 5000t/day before raising this to 10,000t/day, subject to market demand.
Oman Cement reports on first half of 2017
14 July 2017Oman: Oman Cement has announced that its net profit after tax for the first half of 2017 was US$13m, a fall of 27% year-on-year compared to the same period of 2016 when it made US$17.7m. Its sales for the first half were US$76.4m, a smaller fall of just 2.3% compared to the first half of 2016, when sales were US$78.2m. This is indicative of higher input costs for the company.
Oman: Raysut Cement has confirmed its plans to build a new cement plant via a joint venture with Oman Cement. The cement producer announced its plans in its first quarter financial report for 2017. The new company will be called Alwasta Cement Company. As announced previously the new project will be dependent on a feasibility report. It also announced that its project with Barwaaqo Cement Company to build a terminal in Somaliland, an autonomous region of Somalia, is progressing and that work on a new packing plant in underway.
Oman Cement boosts its profit by 10% to US$33.4m in 2016
24 February 2017Oman: Oman Cement’s profit has risen by 10% year-on-year to US$33.4m in 2016 from US$30.4m in 2015. Its sales revenue grew by 8.5% to US$147m from US$135m and its sales volumes of cement grew by 10.6% to 2.30Mt from 2.01Mt, according to the Muscat Daily newspaper. It attributed the increased profit to higher turnover and higher investment income. However, its operational costs rose due to a shutdown of its kiln for a longer period than expected.
Oman: Oman Cement’s profit has risen by 39% year-on-year to US$26m for the first nine months of 2016 from US$18.1m in the same period of 2015. Its revenue grew by 12.45% to US$114m from US$101m.
Update on cement industry of Oman
07 September 2016Update on Oman
It’s been an interesting month for the cement industry in Oman with the announcement of various producer projects and a recent market report predicting steady growth in the country.
A late August 2016 sector report from Al Maha Financial Services concluded that government-backed infrastructure projects in the country have pushed cement demand over the production capacity of the two leading local cement producers, Oman Cement and Raysut Cement. The report tempered the good news though with fears that excess production capacity from neighbouring producers in nearby countries would continue to lower prices in Oman. This matches the situation Global Cement found when it visited Oman Cement’s plant in early 2015. Such was the demand-production gap that this producer sometimes imported clinker to keep its supply constant when it shutdown its kiln for maintenance.
Cement production capacity in Oman currently stands at 8.81Mt/yr according to Global Cement Directory 2016 data. The major cement producers hold most of the local market with Oman Cement’s 4.2Mt/yr plant at Rusayl and Raysut Cement’s 3Mt/yr plant at Salalah.
Raysut Cement has announced progress on a number of local projects throughout 2016 including launching a new 20,000t silo at Salalah in May 2016, building a new terminal at the Port of Duqm due to open by the end of the third quarter of 2016, installing a new 150t/hr rotary packing plant with auto truck loader for expected commissioning by the end of October 2016 and it is currently upgrading its gas supply station at Salalah, also to give cement production a boost.
This last project is of particular interest because when Global Cement visited Oman Cement the staff at the Rusayl plant were concerned about the rapidly rising price of natural gas. The plant used gas as its primary fuel and at the time of the interview in January 2015 they were considering diversifying into alternative fuels such as a tyres or using local coal instead. The issue also received a mention in the company’s first quarter report, where it attributed the rise in gas prices to a 26.8% hit in its operational profit taking it down to US$15.6m in the first quarter of 2015.
Meanwhile, both Raysut Cement and Oman Cement are in the process of building a cement plant together at Al Duqm. The latest news on this joint venture emerged in mid-August 2016 when the companies announced that they had registered Al Wusta Cement as the company designated to carry out the project. So far the plant is at the feasibility study stage with further progress to be released at a later date.
Operating in a full-capacity environment will be a dream to many cement producers around the world. However, it is not without its pitfalls from input issues such as gas supply or fighting off external competition who may want a piece of the pie. Oman's construction industry is expected to see growth of 3.4% to US$5.74bn in 2016 backed by government spending. It is there for the taking for the local producers.