Leading cement manufacturer Saudi Cement Company (SCC) - which will be celebrating its golden jubilee next year - looks forward to another year of solid growth given the growing demand for cement in Saudi Arabia as well as throughout the region.

Says a spokesman for the company: "The demand for cement in the kingdom increased last year to reach 22.7 million tonnes (of which 0.5 million tonnes were imported), compared to a demand of 20.8 million tonnes during the previous year. The period has seen an increase of 1.9 millions tonnes, approximately 9.1 per cent, and the trend could well be expected this year again."
However, the increase in demand was met by the high production recorded in the kingdom - which reached 22.2 million tonnes of clinker (equivalent to around 23.2 million tonnes of cement) - resulting in an overall surplus of a million tonnes of cement.
With the national cement companies succeeding in exporting the entire surplus in addition to a quantity from their previous stock, the clinker closing stock by end of 2003 decreased to a level of 4.9 million tonnes, he says.
SCC produced a total 4,504,553 tonnes of clinker last year compared to 4,499,982 tonnes during the previous year, registering an increase of 4,571 tonnes.
However, the overall clinker production at both its plants in Hofuf and Ain Dar exceeded the rated capacities of 4,147,500 tonnes by 357,053 tonnes.
Cement production for 2003 amounted to 4,557,476 tonnes compared to 4,482,422 tonnes for 2002, showing an increase of 75,054 tonnes, he adds. This output was absorbed by the local and export market, he says.
Such high production could be achieved as the cement mills were operated at high efficiency and were stopped only for routine and scheduled maintenance, the spokesman comments.
In fact, SCC has achieved new production records at more than one of its kilns - considered to be one of the highest both locally and internationally, he points out.
SCC's total cement sales for 2003 amounted to 4.58 million tonnes, registering an increase of 102,867 tonnes over the previous year. Of the total sales for last year, Bahrain accounted for 502,238 tonnes, an increase of 23.6 per cent over the previous year.
A total of 137,236 tonnes of clinker was exported by SCC, showing an increase of 45.3 per cent.
Among the major export destinations for SCC's cement, Kuwait topped the list with 534,570 tonnes; followed by 86,657 tonnes to Qatar; and 35,537 tonnes to Nigeria.
"During 2003, SCC was able to resolve all problems relating to its export terminal project, and both export lines for cement and clinker are now fully operational," says the spokesman.
Established in 1955, SCC was formed with the principal objective of meeting the demand for cement, cement products and to invest in cement-related fields. The company operates two cement plants (Hofuf and Ain Dar) in the Eastern Province, which are about 35 km apart and equidistant from the King Abdul Aziz Port at Dammam.
The Hofuf plant became operational in 1961, with one kiln producing about 300 tonnes of clinker per day. Since then the plant has seen four expansions and/or renovations and upgrading of its facilities.
The Ain Dar plant started operations as an independent company called the Saudi-Bahraini Cement Company (SBC) in 1989, with four kilns each with a capacity of 1,500 tonnes of clinker producing a combined output of 6,000 tonnes. SBC continued its operations independently until it was merged with SCC in January 1992.
SCC, which won ISO 9001:1994 certification over seven years ago, has just completed revising its quality system manual and procedures to comply with the ISO 9000:2000 version and expects to receive certification from the German firm TUV shortly. SCC also has been pushing forward environmental-friendly techniques at its facilities by adhering to international standards for environmental controls for dust and gas emissions.