The cement dispatches for August 2014 stood at 3.96 million tons, compared to 3.05 million tons in August 2013, an increase of 29.8% y/y and 47.8% m/m, AlJazira Capital has stated in a report citing the data issued by Yamamah Cement Co.
The y/y increase in dispatches is primarily due to the fact that part of Ramadan and vacation season last year came in August, which usually lower the demand for cement, whereas the significant growth of 47.8% m/m was due to the cyclical nature of cement demand recovering after Ramadan.
On a y/y basis, Arabian Cement and Najran Cement showed a significant increase in their cement dispatches by 86.0% and 60.8% respectively for August, whereas Saudi Cement and Yanbu Cement showed the lowest growth of 2.3% and 17.7%, correspondingly.
On a m/m basis, Arabian Cement and Tabuk cement showed a jump of 64.2% and 61.1% respectively.
The clinker inventory levels have shown a monthly increase by 6.7%, which is considering low comparing with the previous months, which is due to sales volume recovering and 6.6% m/m lower clinker production.
The largest m/m increase was registered by Eastern Cement which showed a jump of 17%. However, Arabian Cement witnessed a decrease of 11% m/m in its clinker inventory.
Hail Cement showed an improvement in its market share as it improved from 1.7% in August-2013 to 3.3% in August.
Meanwhile, Qassim Cement market share declined to 6.8% in August, compared to 8.0% in the same month of last year, possibly due to entry of new players in the industry and the production capacity increase of others.