Saudi Arabia has licensed al-Jouf Cement Co, a firm with a paid-up capital of 1.02 billion riyals (US$267m), the state news agency SPA said on Sunday. The planned company is at least the fifth to be announced since May to boost cement production to help cope with a real estate boom and huge infrastructure projects. The previous projects were worth some $1.5 billion.

The ministry last year licensed projects worth 21.6 billion riyals to treble cement production to some 68Mt per year. currently there are eight cement companies in Saudi Arabia producing an annual 23Mt. Some of these firms have also announced plans to raise their output.
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