12-13 Oct, 2009 - Abu Dhabi, U A E
Millennium Hotel, Abu Dhabi
Millennium Hotel, Abu Dhabi
Countries with low cost cement production will be better positioned to survive the declining global cement prices, according to a recent report from Global Investment House. This is in light of increasing production capacity in the region, which has coincided with the global economic slowdown.
Briefly, MENA's cement production capacity is forecasted to increase by 40.5 per cent, reaching about 529mn tonnes in 2012, as per expansion plans. In 2008, annual Cement production in Arab countries stood at 222 million tonnes, representing 59 per cent of the region’s annual production capacity, and the annual cement production capacity in the Arab World is set to increase by 99million tonnes over the next four years, reaching 321million tonnes by 2012.
The UAE, Egypt and Saudi Arabia are among the countries implementing considerable capacity expansion plans, contributing about 32 per cent of the new capacity expansion in the region. Egypt is projected to increase annual Cement production capacity by 43%, Saudi Arabia by 27%, and UAE by 56% from 2008 production capacity levels.
Will increasing capacity result in lower costs of production through economies of scale?
The report also states that Cement production cost varies among different Middle East and North Africa (Mena) countries, depending on the cost of energy, raw materials and labour.
Algeria, among the MENA countries, has the lowest cash cost of production at $15 per tonne. Other major cement producers including Iran ($23/tonne), Saudi Arabia ($24/tonne), Egypt ($32/tonne) and UAE ($33/tonne) are poised for growth in the MENA cement sector due to relatively low costs of production.
Find out more about trends in the MENA cement markets at the upcoming 4th Mid East CemenTrade conference on 12-13 October in Abu Dhabi. The conference will provide:
… plus many more.
>>View the complete agenda here<<
