Saudi Yanbu Cement plans 48 per cent output hike
Saudi-based Yanbu Cement Co plans to spend SAR1.5bn (US$400m) to raise its production capacity by 48 per cent by 2011, its top executive said.
At its current output capacity of 4.2Mt, Yanbu was not affected by a year-old ban on exports as the volume it produces is absorbed by local demand, Chief Executive Saud Islam told Reuters in an interview.
But the firm will consider exporting once it had additional output becuase a growing local surplus in hitting prices.
The expansion, which will be funded by the company and a loan from the National Commercial Bank (NCB), will increase Yanbu’s production capacity to 6.2Mta.
"If the local demand does not take all of our production we will export," Islam said late on Sunday.
"We are not affected by the ban but we will be affected by it in the future (if the ban is extended ... when the surplus starts," he said, adding that he expects the government to lift a year-long ban on exports before the planned expansion is completed.
Source: Reuters
Published under Cement News
