Domestic cement sales fell 16.1 percent year-on-year to 4.17 million tonnes in March 2023 due to the seasonality effect and a third of the month occupied by Ramadan, Aljazira Capital said in its latest sector report.

In February, local sales had dipped 1.4 percent year-on-year to 4.22 million.

Exports sales stood at 795,000 in March, falling 11.3 percent year-on-year. Clinker inventories reached 35.1 million tonnes, rising 4.3 percent year-on-year but remaining flat month-on-month.

The total utilisation rate of the cement sector stood at 68.4 percent in March, down 35 basis points year-on-year. Sales-clinker production ratio stood at 101 percent.

On the other hand, local dispatches declined by 10.7 percent to 12.7 million tonnes in the first quarter of 2023, compared to 14.2 million tonnes a year earlier.

Exports increased by 15 percent to 2.1 million tonnes in the three months period ended March 31, 2023, compared to 1.8 million tonnes in the first quarter of 2022, the report said.

Read more:

Saudi Arabia's cement exports fall nearly 9% in February 2023 - Aljazira Capital

(Writing by D Madhura; Editing by Anoop Menon)

(anoop.menon@lseg.com)