Saudi cement sales drop 4% in November: Aljazira Cap

Cement and clinker sales in Saudi Arabia fell 4.2 percent year-on-year (YoY) to 3.64 million tons (including exports) in November 2018 compared to 3.80 million tons in the same month last year, Aljazira Capital said in a report on Sunday.

Clinker inventory jumped 19.5 percent YoY and one percent month-on-month (MoM) to 41.99 million tons last month, but domestic cement dispatches were down 13.9 percent on a monthly basis.

Total clinker sales stood at 40.89 million tons (including exports) in the 11 months of 2018 compared to 43.16 million tons in the same period last year, a YoY decline of five percent, the report found.

Meanwhile, total utilization rate of Saudi cement sector fell to 54.4 percent in November 2018 compared to 62.8 percent in the same period last year.

Southern and Yamama Cement recorded the highest YoY increase in sales of 13.2 percent and 12.6 percent, respectively.  On the other hand, Northern Cement showed the highest decline of 62.4 percent YoY, followed by City Cement falling 41.1 percent YoY.

According to Aljazira Capital, Southern and Saudi Cement recorded the highest market share of 16.56 percent and 10.8 percent, respectively, in November.

Southern Cement recorded the highest market share of 14.1 percent on the Trailing Twelve Months (TMM) basis, it noted.