Raysut Cement Company, Oman’s largest cement manufacturer, today signed a land lease agreement and Port of Terminal services agreement with Port of Duqm for building a new grinding unit in Oman at an investment of $30 million.

The Duqm plant is being set up as part of the company’s aggressive expansion strategy in the local and regional markets. Both agreements were signed by Joey Ghose, Raysut Cement Company chief executive, and Reggy Vermeulen, CEO of Port of Duqm Company.

A Raysut statement said that once completed, the new grinding unit will add another one million tonnes to its current capacity with the annual output reaching 7.4 million tonnes.

“Our acquisitions as well as investments are strategically calibrated to ensure that we have a proximity presence in locations where cement demand is high whilst locally available additives are at close proximity. The Duqm unit, which comes after our recent acquisition of Sohar Cements in Oman will help us consolidate and strengthen our presence in Oman and the neighbouring Gulf markets,” said Ghose.

He said the local capacity expansions will also complement and support its strategic investments overseas, particularly in the markets of Africa, Georgia, and in the next phase, India.

Ghose said that the construction of the Duqm unit had started on September 19 with the company’s board approving moving forward with the latest technology vertical mill which will drive costs further down.

“Our goal is to raise our capacity to 20 million tonnes by 2025 and eventually be a solid partner to infrastructure development and in turn nation building in the markets where we are present,” Ghose said.

The current capacity of Raysut Cement stands at 6.4 million tonnes per annum. The company had posted a growth of 26.6 per cent in revenues last year with turnover recorded at RO91 million ($235 million), a significant growth from RO71.8 million in 2017.

Following a $60-million acquisition of Sohar Cements earlier in the year, Raysut also announced a joint venture with MSG Group in East Africa to set up a $40-million cement grinding unit in Berbera, Somaliland.

“We will continue to invest in markets where we find growth potential through acquisitions and by setting up Greenfield projects. So far in 2019, we are looking at an investment of over $150 million in capacity expansion,” said Ghose, adding that it is also in advanced stages of a joint venture in Georgia.

In its second phase, Raysut has plans to invest in India to the tune of $700 million by 2022, out of which the company is already eyeing $200 million in taking over two existing cement plants.

Recently, Raysut has also signed a $51-million financing deal with Bank Nizwa of Oman to fund its operations and expansion plans across the sultanate including in Salalah and Sohar. – TradeArabia News Service