Amana Capital Financial reported that the profits of local UAE cement companies plunged 52 percent to US$118.6m during the first half of this year, up from US$247.3m for the same period last year, Gulf News reported.

The report said that production capacity of the cement factories is expected to increase to 18.3Mta, compared to the current production of 12.3Mta, to meet demand in the GCC countries.The report also said that although there were positive indications such as changing the way cement companies manage their investments heavy investments in financial markets reduced the profits of these companies.

Results for the first half of this year showed that the sales by the UAE’s eight cement companies scored an increase of 17.3 per cent, reaching US$463m compared to US$381m last year.