Beni Suef resumes production, Egypt

Egyptian cement producer Beni Suef Cement Co has restarted operations as natural gas supplies have resumed.

On 6 December it was reported that the company had to suspend operations at four plants for the second time in the last two months due to natural gas shortages. The company had put in requests to President Mohammed Morsy to end the gas shortages and noted that it was unable to import additional supplies due to the lack of strong logistical infrastructure needed to transport energy from Egypt’s ports to its factories.

Speaking at the time, Farouk Moustafa, managing director  of Beni Suef said: “The company consumes half a million cubic metres of natural gas a day, a large amount whose shortfalls would need to be compensated for by purchases made from the local market.”

However, after being cut off for four days, Mr Moustafa has now said gas supplies resumed two days ago, adding that the plant was operating at full capacity.

Meanwhile, earlier this week, cement prices dropped by EGP20-30/t (US$3-5) due to political instability, according to reports by Mist News.