Saudi Arabia: Southern Province reports 48% fall in 4Q profits

Southern Province Cement reported a decline of 48 per cent in its profits for the fourth quarter of 2016. Profits in 4Q16 fell to SAR156m (US$41.6m) from SAR300m in 4Q15.

Southern Province Cement is part of a trend that sees Saudi cement producers report a considerable drop in sales due to a signficant reduction in construction activity in 2016.  Infrastructure spending in Saudi Arabia has sharply dropped in 2016 and total cement consumption in 2016 reached 55.3Mt, a far cry from its 2015 peak of 60.8Mt.

The market continues to be down as January sales fell by 16 per cent YoY in January 2017.