Displaying items by tag: Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia: Total exports of cement have reached 25Mt since the export rules were relaxed in mid-2017. Abdul Rahman Hussein, from the Ministry of Trade and Investment, said that the government is now planning to charge fees on exporters after a two-year tax holiday, according to the Aliqtisadia newspaper. He noted that the ministry has approved 53 cement export licences. 22 of these have been issued during the current year.

Saudi Arabia: Najran Cement’s sales rose by 20% year-on-year to US$48.7m in the first half of 2019 from US$40.6m in the same period of 2018. Its net profit after Zakat and tax was US$0.92m, after a loss previously. It attributed its increased sales and profit to higher sales volumes, better pricing and reduced production costs.

Saudi Arabia: Tabuk Cement’s sales revenue grew by 29% year-on-year to US$30.4m in the first half of 2019 from US$23.5m in the same period in 2018. It attributed the sales growth to improved prices despite poor sales volumes. It reported a net profit after Zakat and tax of US$3.4m for the half, after a loss of US$0.27m in the first half of 2018.

Saudi Arabia: Najran Cement has renewed its clinker export licence. It is valid for one year from 9 July 2019.

Saudi Arabia: Denmark’s FLSmidth has revealed that it is working on a project to convert a grey cement production line at Alsafwa Cement to a dual-white and grey line. The modified kiln is expected to be commissioned in early 2020. The production objectives are to produce a minimum of 2000t/day white clinker with a maximum heat consumption of 1380kcal/kg clinker. No value for the project has been disclosed.

FLSmidth plans to install its Duoflex Burner inside the kiln. To minimise costs it says that only minor changes will be made to the current preheater with as much existing equipment as possible being reused. In this case, the oil handling equipment, clinker cooler, raw material storage system and raw mill grinding equipment will be reused.

Saudi Arabia: Najran Cement plans to resume production by its third production line from the start of July 2019. The line has a production capacity of 6500t/day. At the same time it will temporarily suspend its second production line. This line has a production capacity of 3000t/day. The cement producer says it is making the changes to to compensate for decreased clinker inventory levels.

Bangladesh: The Chattogram Customs Authority has seized 30 containers of cement imported under false declaration by Pran Dairy at Chattogram Port. Sources quoted by the Daily Sun newspaper said that the company has attempted to avoid paying the correct import tariffs by falsely declaring the consignment as high-density polyethylene (HDPE) for the UAE. However, when custom officials examined the shipment they found Saudi Arabian-branded cement instead.

A total of 10,200 sacks of 50kg bags of cement were found. The duty payable on HDPE is 32% compared to 91% for cement. The importer was attempting to avoid paying import tariffs of over US$350,000.

Saudi Arabia: Saudi Cement’s revenue for the first quarter of 2019 rose 18% higher year-on-year to US$103.9m, driven by higher export sales volume of cement and clinker. It said that its prices had risen, but that the price rise was not as great as that achieved by some other producers. Its profit for the quarter was US$35.2m, a 7% fall year-on-year. However its profit was 6% higher compared to the fourth quarter of 2018.

Saudi Cement’s cement export volumes increased to 0.25Mt for the quarter, while clinker sales volumes (mainly exports) jumped to 0.41Mt. In contrast, local cement sales volumes declined by 16.5% year-on-year to 1.19Mt. Going forward, the company says it will continue to focus on exports in light of weak domestic demand.

Saudi Arabia: Mohammed Al-Subaie has been appointed as the chairman of Eastern Province Cement. He succeeds Abdulmohsen Al-Ruwaished, who has resigned. Ibrahim Al Ruwais has also been appointed as the company’s vice-chairman.

Saudi Arabia: Al Jouf Cement has signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding with China’s Riga Company to convert its second production line to produce white cement. The agreement will last six months.