Eastern Province Cement (EPC) is to launch commercial production at a new cement mill in April 2015. The construction of the grinding unit, with a capacity of 150tph, will be completed in October 2014, officials said yesterday. The equipment at the new facility will be installed over a period of two-and-a-half months, with the trial period to take three months, by end-March 2015.

Earlier in March 2014, the cement manufacturer announced a SAR309m (US$82.4m/EUR59.4m) net profit for 2013, down from SAR387m a year ago, or a YoY decrease of 20.2 per cent.