Mexican CEMEX to inject $20 mln in Egypt by end of 2022

Doaa A.Moneim , Tuesday 29 Mar 2022

Mexican CEMEX — the owner of the Assiut Cement Company in Egypt — plans to invest up to $20 million by the end of 2022 despite the ongoing challenges caused by the Russian-Ukrainian conflict on global and local markets, according to the company’s president in Egypt and the UAE Carlos E. Gonzalez.

Mexican CEMEX Company s President in Egypt and the UAE Carlos E. Gonzalez.

Speaking to Ahram Online, Gonzalez noted that the company has invested roughly $1.5 billion in Egypt since it has started operations in the country in 1999.

He added that Egypt has lots of potentials that encourages the company to expand its investments in its market, praising the regulations issued by the Egyptian Competition Authority (ECA) that sets the production capacity for each cement factory in the local market.

“Measures like this protect the cement industry from collapsing amid the ongoing challenges,” Gonzalez explained.

In 2021, the ECA issued regulation No.56 for 2021, which obliged all cement companies operating in the local market to reduce production by the end of July 2022.

Under this regulation, cement producers must cut their production by 10.69 percent and introduce a 2.81 percent cut per production line.

He expounded to Ahram Online that the Ukrainian-Russian conflict has impacted the cement industry in the Egyptian market on the short run, particularly the delay in the arrival of machines crucial to the industry, the increase in the prices of paper that is used to process cement bushels, along with a hike in coal and other energy prices.

Nineteen cement companies operate in the Egyptian market containing 42 production lines. 18 of said companies are owned by the private sector, and one is state-run, according to the Egyptian Federation of Industries.