Saudi Cement Company's (SCC) new export terminal is all set for operations and is expected to significantly boost the company's export business.

The Dammam-based SCC also said that its profits rose to SR227.112 million ($60.56 million) in 2001 compared to SR175 million in 2000. Assets as of December 31, 2001 amounted to SR2.12 billion of which SR1.532 billion represents the net of fixed assets after depreciation, and SR35.224 million the net of acquisition surplus.

SCC produced a total of 4.443 million tonnes of clinker in 2001 compared to 4.339 million tonnes during 2000, an increase of 103,965 tonnes or 2.4 per cent, according to its annual report.

Cement production for 2001 amounted to 4.044 million tonnes compared to 3.813 million tonnes the previous year, an increase of 230,219 tonnes.

The demand for cement in Saudi Arabia improved during 2001, and total sales by the kingdom's cement companies amounted to 17.7 million tonnes compared to 15.3 million tonnes in 2000, an increase of 2.4 million tonnes or 15.7 per cent, SCC said.

The increase in demand was, however, offset by the high production, which reached approximately 20.7 million tonnes of clinker (equivalent to around 21.7 million tonnes of cement). This resulted in an overall surplus of 4.1 million tonnes of cement (5.4 million tons for 2000), it said.

"Cement companies have succeeded to export all the surplus in addition to some quantities from their previous stock, despite fierce competition from other exporting countries. Hence, the clinker closing stock by end of 2001 decreased by a minor quantity to a level of 9 million tonnes compared to 9.4 million tonnes by end of 2000," SCC said in the report.

"Some quantities of cement were imported from the UAE and Qatar due to their lower prices. The national cement companies chose not to enter into a price war with such importers in order to maintain stability in the local market. However, all necessary measures are being taken locally and on the Gulf level to curtail continued flow of such cement to the Saudi markets," the report added.

Total cement sales by the SCC in 2001, including oilwell cement, amounted to 4.028 million tonnes compared to a quantity of 3.805 million tonnes sold in 2000.

SCC exported 327,362 tonnes of cement to Bahrain compared to 276,190 tonnes in 2000. The total quantity of clinker exported to Bahrain amounted to 69,533 tonnes.

The total quantities of cement exported during 2001 (other than exports to Bahrain) were 1.089 million tonnes compared to 1.037 million tonnes in 2000, an increase of 52,213 tonnes. The total quantity of clinker exported (other than exports to Bahrain) amounted to 253,778 tonnes.

SCC said that construction work on its clinker export line at the Dammam Terminal has been completed and that the clinker dome has been filled with over 39,000 tonnes of clinker. A cold run test for all equipment was carried out successfully and the clinker line is now ready for loading clinker to any customer's ship arriving at the berth first.

Work is continuing on the cement export line and installation of all mechanical, electrical and electronic equipment is almost completed.

The rail manifold for receiving cement rail cars is ready for receiving cement from plants and then feeding it to the dome as well as to the ship. The ship loader is ready for operation and the cement transport equipment is under commissioning for loading ships at the rate of 800 tonnes an hour.

Clinker wagons and cement tankers are being received and mounted to the wagons, to be readily available by the time the terminal becomes operational.

Special attention was given to environmental protection and pollution control on the project, and an adequate number of fabric filters have been installed to ensure that dust emissions do not exceed 30 mg/cu nm.

SCC said its expects the new terminal - with its loading capacities of 16,000 to 18,000 tonnes per day - to significantly improve its position in international exports, while also achieving significant savings in transport costs.