Saudi Arabia's cement sales in October fall 1.8% YoY

Saudi Arabia's cement sales in October, including exports, dropped to 4.03Mt, compared to 4.1Mt in October 2017, a fall of 1.8 per cent YoY.

For the first 10 months of the year, cement dispatches slipped to 37.25Mt including exports, compared to 39.96Mt in 10M17, down 5.4per cent, said Al Jazira Capital.

Meanwhile, inventories of clinker in the kingdom rose by 19.8 per cent during October 2018 to 41.57Mt YoY.

The falling cement demand is largely due to the weaker contract awards in construction and transport that have dipped to US$109m in October 2018, from US$1.127bn awarded in October 2017.