Aggregate cement sales rise 17% in Saudi Arabia

Aggregate cement sales of 17 producers in Saudi Arabia reported an overall average increase to 3.71Mt in September 2019, up 17.27 per cent compared to 3.16Mt in September 2018.

The report, by Argaam, recorded domestic cement sales of 3.59Mt in September 2019 from the 17 companies. Leading the way in increased production was Northern Province Cement, whose sales rose to 183,000t in September 2019 from 35,000t in September 2018.

The highest cement production was achieved by Southern Cement, which produced 522,000t in the period under review, up from 506,000t. The smallest gain was made by Al Jouf Cement which recorded sales of 80,000t for September 2019, up 2.56 per cent from 78,000t in September 2018. Clinker production in September 2019 fell by seven per cent to 3.85Mt.

Cement export sales in September 2019 totalled 114,000t. The six exporting cement producers from the group were Saudi Cement, Qassim Cement, Eastern Province Cement, Najran Cement, Tabuk Cement and Riyadh Cement with Saudi Cement's 49,000t accounting for almost half of the export total.

Four of the cement producers exported 381,000t of clinker in September 2019 with Yanbu Cement exporting the most at 274,000t. Northern Province Cement (42,000t), Saudi Cement (38,000t) and Southern Cement (27,000t) were the other clinker exporters.