UAE cement companies are expected to report an increase in profit for 2004 of between 400
per cent and 500 per cent over 2003, market sources said at end-December 2004. The record-high growth is expected in the light of the increased cement prices during 2004, which reached 26 UAE dirhams ($7.1/5.2 euro) a bag (50kg) in the middle of the year.
The strong local demand for cement has driven some of the cement makers to raise their production significantly, while others have announced plans to add new production lines to meet the demand, which exceeded the local plants’ output and led to the price increase.
As a result of the intervention of the panel created to supervise the cement prices in the UAE and the imports of cement, the prices have been lowered and at present the cement is sold at between 16 dirhams ($4.4/3.2 euro) and 17 dirhams ($4.6/3.4 euro) a bag. In 2003, the cement price in the UAE stood at between 8.0 dirhams ($2.2/1.6 euro) and 9.0 dirhams ($2.4/1.8 euro) a bag.
