Yemen currently needs from 3 to 5Mt of cement annually to meet local demands. Yemen has been suffering a cement shortage as demand has increased dramatically due to an augmentation in the building industry, particularly in the major cities, beginning two years ago.

Since 2005, the cement shortage peaked, when the price of a 50kg bag rose to YR1200 on the black market.  Last week, the International Finance Corporation announced its investment in National Cement Company, to support a green field cement project in Yemen, located at al-Anad, 70km north of Aden.                         

According to Ministry of Industry and Trade, Yemen is working to increase its cement production to 6Mt by 2007.  The ministry said that current cement production covers only 45 per cent of the local market’s need.  In 2004, the total production of the Cement Manufacturing and Marketing Co reached 572,577t. Last year, The Arab-Yemeni Cement Company signed a contract in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to make initial designs for a new cement factory in the Mukalla area of the Governorate of Hadhramaut.