Southern Cement says profit decline in 2021 attributed to fewer executed projects, to boost export volume in 2022

Logo of Southern Province Cement

Aqeel bin Kadasah, CEO of Southern Province Cement Co., said that the decline in the company's profit during 2021 was due to the decrease in executed government projects.
 

In a statement to CNBC Arabia, the CEO indicated that the company's clinker inventory reached 2.9 million tons by the end of 2021, adding that export prices were not encouraging.

"However, the company is set to boost export quantities during the current year due to the high prices, which will likely generate profit," he said.
 

Furthermore, Southern Province is looking for opportunities to export to African countries, Bangladesh, India and Yemen at suitable prices, as the company targets exporting nearly 1 million tons.
 

As for the company’s production line in Jazan, the CEO explained that a study has been carried out to assess the future market situation and accordingly the production capacity of the alternative production line is determined. He also expected that execution of the project will start in the second half of 2022, and that the actual costs will vary from the estimated ones, according to the prices of spare parts and raw materials.
 

The main objective of the Jazan project is to provide the product to the local market, and then export any surplus, said the CEO.
 

He added that the company has small loans that were incurred from the production line in Tihama plant and will not affect its solvency, pointing out that the options for the new line are still on the table, either through self-financing or borrowing.
 

The cement firm earlier posted SAR 450 million profit for FY 2021, a decline by 26% compared to SAR 609 million profit in 2020. The company's Q4 profit amounted to SAR 96.6 million, showed Argaam's data.