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Cement sales in Saudi Arabia slipped by 2.3 percent in 2022 while exports of the building material to regional countries surged to a record high, according to an industry report.
From about 51 million tonnes in 2021, cement sales in the world’s largest oil exporter declined to nearly 50.8 million tonnes in 2022, the report by Al- Yamama Cement Company, one of the Kingdom’s largest cement producers, showed.
Cement production by the Gulf country’s 17 manufacturers fell to 52.4 million tonnes from around 53.7 million tonnes, the report noted.
Cement exports, which are controlled by government permits, soared to a record high of 8.94 million tonnes in 2022 from nearly 8.18 million tonnes in 2021, it said.
It showed cement stocks in the Kingdom, the largest Arab economy and cement producer, grew by around 69,000 tonnes to about 35 million tonnes by end 2022.
On a monthly basis, the report showed cement sales slumped by 11.4 percent to 4.3 million tonnes in January from 4.8 million tonnes in January 2022 while production fell by 11.3 percent to 4.4 million tonnes from about 4.9 million tonnes in the same period.
(Writing by Nadim Kawach; Editing by Anoop Menon)