Oman seeks anti-dumping measures

UAE cement producers have defended their export levels to Oman after Raysut Cement Company calls for anti-dumping measures to be put in place to restrict imports from the neighbouring country. 

Raysut Cement is now urging the Omani government to put a "ceiling" on the amount of imports from UAE producers, stating that they "are offloading a large amount of cement in Oman, which has pushed prices down to a low level, especially in northern Oman," according to Samidh Mukhopadhya, CFO of Oman's leading cement producer. The company has recommended that a truck importing volumes from the UAE should not have more than 5000t of cement and total exports from the UAE should not exceed 30,000t per month.

However, UAE producers deny they are flooding the market and are meeting a shortfall given the strong levels of construction activity being witnessed in the Sultanate. “There’s a shortage and we are covering that shortage,” Suliman Ali Abdullah Al Shehi, sales manager of Gulf Cement, told The National. Meanwhile, MK Beary, marketing manager of Fujairah Cement said: “Oman is a big country and demand is more than they have." He added that: “They rely on UAE cement as their [cement] requirement is big and they only have two factories.”