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Lebanese cement production increased threefold in recent years

29 March 2011

BEIRUT: Cement production in Lebanon has surged from 2 million tons in 2006 to 6 million tons in 2011, said caretaker Industry Minister Apraham Dedeyan at an International Cement Conference at Habtoor Hotel Monday.

According to Dedeyan three major local cement manufacturers produce the vast majority of Lebanon’s cement supplies, 5 million tons of which are consumed locally. The remaining 1 million tons is exported.

Lebanon’s primary recipients of cement exports are Syria and Iraq.

“Lebanese cement manufacturing has a number of distinct qualities, chief among them are its quality that adheres to international standards, its reasonable prices and its developed manufacturing techniques,” said Dedeyan.

The minister said Lebanese cement production benefited from weather conditions favorable to cement manufacturing as well as from its proximity to oil-producing Arab Gulf states.

The British-based INTERCEM Conferences is the largest cement conference group in the world. Every March, the group gathers industry experts from around the world in one location in the Middle North Africa region. This is the first year INTERCEM visits Beirut.

“We would normally get 400 [attendees] at our Middle Eastern conferences. This year we got 230,” Malcolm Shelbourne, chief executive officer of INTERCEM, told The Daily Star. “That’s a low turn-out. But considering the circumstances, it’s good.”

He said conference organizers had expected the gathering’s turn-out to be affected by protests that have gripped various parts of the region, but noted that ironically Beirut turned out to be a safer location to hold the conference than most other places in the region.

Shelbourne believes the Lebanese cement industry has fared well in recent times but said the local industry faces significant competition from oil-producing cement manufacturers in the region, notably Saudi Arabia, who are able to sell cement at lower prices because of lower production costs.

“As you all know, the cement industry has taken some large strides and now occupies a large portion of production,” said Ahmad Russan, president of the Arab union for the production of cement and other building materials, who was also present at the conference.

“After two more years I expect [cement] production in our region to reach 300 million tons per annum, in spite of the fact that we live under difficult circumstances, however [the industry] is moving,” Russan added.

Russan said that an enduring real estate boom in the Gulf Arab countries meant that demand for cement would spiral upwards in coming years.

Caretaker Tourism Minister Fadi Abboud was also at the conference, calling for a bolstering of industry “in order to restore Lebanon’s position as a center for business and trade.”

Last week, caretaker Finance Minister agreed to cut income taxes on owners of industrial enterprises by 35 percent, a move that was hailed by president of the Association of Lebanese Industrialists Nemat Frem, who said that the sector “was in great need of incentives.” – The Daily Star

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