The Cement Producers Association in Iraq held its regular board meeting for the year 2025, which held by The President of the Association, Eng. Ammar Rahim Abdullah Al-Saedi, The meeting took place on Tuesday, July 29, 2025, at the Association’s headquarters in Baghdad.
At the beginning of the meeting, Al-Saedi welcomed the attending members of the Association, praising the spirit of cooperation among private-sector representatives and calling for enhanced communication and coordination to ensure the stability of the Iraqi cement market, both in terms of quantities and prices.
Main topics of the meeting:
Production review: Production capacities for the first half of 2024 were discussed and compared with the production levels in the first half of 2025, to assess local market consumption, as a decrease in consumption was observed compared to 2024.
Vision for the cement industry: The latest developments in Iraq’s cement industry development vision were reviewed. The official letter addressed to Prime Minister Engineer Mohammed Shia’ Al Sudani was discussed, in which the Association requested to suspend the issuance of licenses for new cement plants. The administrative board and member companies expressed their thanks and appreciation to the Prime Minister for his interest and support for the cement industry. The Association leadership held meetings with the Advisory Board, with participation from representatives of the Ministry of Industry and Minerals, to discuss the vision.
Price decrease and its impact on the market: The letter from the Iraqi State Cement Company, numbered 8217 and dated June 24, 2025, was presented. It requested a meeting with the Association to discuss the causes of price decrease in the local cement market, following a directive from the Minister of Industry and Minerals and according to Decision No. 1 of the Advisory Board taken at its third session on June 1, 2025. The decision tasked the State Cement Company and the Association to study and identify the reasons for falling cement prices in local markets, their negative effects on production processes in the public and private sectors, and to bring the issue to the attention of the Minister. The Association’s administrative board confirmed that one of the main reasons for price drops is the continued granting of licenses for new cement plants and ongoing construction of such plants despite an existing oversupply. The Association had warned that in the coming years (2025–2030), oversupply would intensify due to more plant construction and rising supply coupled with decreasing demand, forcing new plants to decrease the prices to enter the market. This situation could lead to significant investor losses and locak market flooding, similar to what is happening in neighboring countries.
Discussion of challenges: Participants discussed several agenda items related to the cement industry, ways to prepare production facilities and improve performance, and efforts to overcome obstacles confronting the private sector.
On the sidelines of the meeting, the Association hosted Line Business Company, which delivered a detailed introductory presentation about the SAP system, explaining how it improves supply chain and production processes, reduces operational costs, and enhances the efficiency of resources management, financial operations, inventory control, and logistics within an integrated enterprise system.
