SIECO aims to double sulphur, cement exports by year-end: CEO

Saudi Industrial Export Co. (SIECO) expects its volume of exports to exceed 160,000 tons of sulphur and 100,000 tons of cement by the end of the year, chief executive Hazem Fahd Al-Dosari told Argaam.

The Saudi-listed firm exported around 70,000 tons of sulphur from state-run Saudi Aramco during the first six months of the year, representing 60 percent of the firm’s income, in addition to exporting 40,000 tons of cement, Al-Dosari said in a phone interview on Sunday.

The CEO said the firm is on the right track and was able to enhance its results in the first half of 2018, as compared to the same period of the last year.

The company reported a net profit of SAR 12.9 million in H1 2018, against net losses of SAR 15 million in year-earlier period.

Al-Dosari said the company is expected to achieve good results in the second half of 2018.

“We are confident from the approval of the shareholders on the capital increase, as it will help the firm attracting new export contracts in the coming period,” Al-Dosari said.

He added that SIECO aims to cooperate with SABIC, Tasnee and Petro Rabigh, after the capital hike, to export their products to South Africa, India and China’s markets, with a focus on the region’s markets, such as Egypt and Jordan.

The CEO highlighted that SIECO has exported products for Tasnee, but there is no contract yet for exporting limited and large quantities; the thing that the firm is looking forward to secure in the coming period.

Earlier, SIECO has obtained the approval of the Kingdom's market regulator, the Capital Market Authority (CMA), to increase capital through a SAR 54 million rights issue.