Total cement sales in Saudi Arabia fell by 10.3% year-on-year in August 2016, but grew by 41% from the previous month to 4.34 million tonnes, a report quoting data from Yamama Cement said.

The total inventory in the country reached a new high of 26.35 million tonnes, representing 45% of sales for the last 12 months, the report from Al Rajhi Capital said. Inventory grew 11.7% year-on-year and 5% from the previous month.

Cement production in the kingdom came in at 4.3 million tonnes during August, which was down 10% compared to the same time last year.

“Among the companies under our coverage, Saudi and Yamama Cement’s market shares improved 0.4% and 0.3% compared to the same period last year to reach 13.1% and 9.1% respectively,” the report said.

For the remaining months of 2016, cement demand is expected to remain modest and achieve a positive year-on-year growth, which could be a challenge for companies, it added.

Some of the key highlights of the report were: In the first eight months of 2016, total cement dispatches slipped 4% y-o-y to 38.7 million tonnes. Meanwhile, Umm Al-Qura Cement (UACC) commenced commercial operations at its new Portland cement production line.

The plant is located in Taif governorate and has an annual production capacity of 2.22 million tonnes of cement. This capacity addition is expected to raise the competition in the Western region.