Yanbu Cement CEO says demand slowed in Q2 2024; market share at 8.9%

Ali Al-Ayed, CEO of Yanbu Cement Co.

Yanbu Cement Co.’s CEO Ali Al-Ayed told Argaam that the Saudi cement demand witnessed some slowdown during the second quarter of this year, as a result of some seasonal factors. However, the company longs for improved demand in Q3 2024, despite no signs of optimism about significant growth in local demand.

Al-Ayed added that the company’s high-quality products and supply efficiency helped position its product range as a top pick by building and construction sector players. This in turn led to an increase in sales volumes and earnings during the first half of this year, compared to the same period last year, despite the weaker cement demand in the Kingdom.

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He explained that Yanbu Cement’s sales volumes in Q2 2024 stood at 922,000 tons, up 15% from 799,000 tons in Q1 2024. Additionally, its sales of the environment-friendly pozzolanic cement amounted to 398,000 tons during H1 2024.

The CEO further noted that the prices of the company’s products are in line with the prevailing market prices, taking into account the excellence in quality of Yanbu Cement’s products.

Al-Ayed also stated that the company’s market share covered nearly 8.9% of Saudi Arabia’s overall cement demand in the second quarter of this year. He indicated that the cement producer kept a clinker stock of 6.39 million tons by the end of Q2 2024, versus 6.2 million tons a quarter earlier.

Despite lack of solid positive indicators for significant growth in local cement demand, the quality of Yanbu Cement’s products will indeed remain a top pick in the construction sector-related markets it operates in, being exposed to a promising share of any growth in local cement demand, according to the CEO.

According to Argaam’s data, Yanbu Cement’s profits rose to SAR 98.1 million by the end of the first half of 2024, from SAR 86.3 million during the same period in 2023. The second-quarter bottom line reached SAR 39.8 million.