Lafarge building new Saudi plant, expanding ops in UAE

Lafarge continues work on a new cement factory in Saudi Arabia and announces a new concrete operation in Abu Dhabi. [$]

{reg}[PAID={"id":"1,2,3,4,5","title":"The content you tried to access is only available to paid subscribers.","link":"1"}] "We have readymix concrete plants in Dubai, Sharjah and Ajman and we will start a new one in Abu Dhabi. The factory is under construction and we expect to start production early next year," said Bruno Lafont Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, according to Emirates Business.

"We are also pursuing the opening of a cement factory in Saudi Arabia," he said, but provided no additional detail. 

Generally, the Middle East market is meaningful to Lafarge. "The UAE is one to two percentage of our business and the Mena is 10 per cent of our total markets," Lafont noted, but added that "we are not in a hurry, but are looking at this region carefully since it is an important region for us."

The readymix plant will be based in Mussafah, it was revealed to Emirates Business. Grant Earnshaw, Managing director, Lafarge Concretes and Aggregates, Middle East, told the newspaper: "We have all the land sorted out and the company formation will be pursued from February 1. We will take consideration of the market conditions and will put capacity to suit those conditions."

Emirates Business said that though reports in the media have specified the companies, he did not confirm the names involved in the venture. "As of this point, we have not signed any formal documents and hence it would not be fair to comment," he added.

Earnshaw noted that "at this time, we have seen no change in our operating performance in terms of supply or demand," said Earnshaw. Projects in the company portfolio include Mall of Emirates and Raffles Hotel. "We have had no change to our operating business in the Northern Emirates."

"Lafarge Middle East is based in Abu Dhabi and each of our businesses is an independent legal entity. We have readymix concrete activities in Saudi in the Eastern and Western province. The new venture in Saudi is a cement plant being built in the Western province."

"We do not want to make any forecasts at this time, given the current economic situation. However, our sales of cement have been strong for the time being," Lafont said.

The Lafarge Group operates in Saudi, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, Jordan and UAE.