Cement sales up across Saudi Arabia as megaconstruction projects kick in
Saudi Arabia’s local cement sales hit 1.45 million tons during the third quarter of 2022, up from 1.43 million tons in the corresponding period a year earlier, according to Southern Province Cement Co.’s CEO Aqeel Kadasah.
The financial results in the three months to October indicate the cement sector’s recovery in the Kingdom, Kadasah said.
Given the pipeline of projects in the country, local demand is set to increase, thus improving cement’s selling price, he revealed.
Profits of Southern Province Cement Co. dropped by 28 percent in the first nine months of 2022 to SR238 million ($63.3 million), down from SR331 million during the same period a year ago.
This was coupled with a 12 percent decrease in revenue in the period ending Sept. 30, reaching SR887 million.
The company attributed the lower profits to lower sales revenues due to the lower demand, lower selling prices, and higher production requirements prices.
The results are in keeping with the mixed picture cement companies have faced in the Kingdom so far in 2022.
Local Tabuk Cement revealed in a bourse filing that its profits declined 81 percent between January and September of 2022, falling to SR3.4 million.
Despite lower profit, the cement producer Tabuk’s first ninemonths revenues increased by 21 percent to SR210 million.
Arabian Cement Co. reported a 6 percent profit increase for the first nine months of 2022 despite sales dropping 6 percent. The cement producer’s profits increased to SR146 million, up from SR138 million in the same period last year, according to a bourse filing,
During the third quarter of 2022, Arabian Cement posted 57 percent growth in its profits to SR59 million supported by an 8 percent increase in revenue to SR241 million.
Despite upheaval faced by the
sector, its market value stands at SR50 billion, and it continues to contribute significantly to the Kingdom’s economic development and Vision 2030 goals, the head of the National Cement Committee Badr Johar said, according to Argaam.
The Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources is working to ensure the sector’s consistency by intensifying efforts in response to the many shifts occurring in the sector, Khalid Al-Mudaifer, vice minister for mining affairs at the ministry, said after a meeting with Johar.
A surge in construction activities due to The Red Sea Development Co., AMAALA and other development projects in Saudi Arabia such as NEOM and Qiddiya is expected to drive the recovery of the cement industry after the demand dwindled last year and early this year on account of the pandemic.