Syria's cement industry is facing serious challenges, forcing it to take unconventional measures to maintain its operation. As severe fuel shortages continue to hit local production, the country has to rely increasingly on suppliers from Iraq and elsewhere to ensure the survival of the industry. Mahmoud Fadhila, head of the Cement and Building Materials Corporation, confirmed to the Syrian state news agency that the depletion of fuel oil supplies had forced factories to temporarily switch to coal-fired systems, while clinker had to be urgently imported from Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Turkey to maintain domestic market supplies.
In order to fundamentally reverse the capacity dilemma, the Damascus authorities recently approved a major investment of strategic significance. In October this year, the Syrian Ministry of Economy and Industry signed a formal contract with the Vertex Group of Iraq to carry out a comprehensive renovation and expansion of the third production line of the Hama Cement Plant. According to Shafaq News, the upgrade will increase the daily capacity of the production line from 3300 tons to 5000 tons, and add a new production line with a daily capacity of 6000 tons, with a total capacity of about 11000 tons in the future. This cooperation project marks the first time that Syria has revived key industrial facilities through the introduction of regional capital, providing an important material basis for post-war reconstruction.
However, even with such positive progress, the gap between supply and demand is still shocking. At present, the daily output of cement in Syria is about 10000 tons, and the annual production capacity is about 3.6 million tons, which is a huge gap compared with the 8 million to 9 million tons needed for reconstruction every year. This disparity between supply and demand has directly affected the progress of infrastructure reconstruction and housing repair after the war, and has also put pressure on cement prices to continue to rise.
Faced with this reality, Syrian officials have made it clear that imports and foreign investment will remain necessary to bridge the supply gap for a long time. In the short term, the production line will not be stopped through coal substitution and regional procurement; in the medium and long term, it is hoped that foreign investment projects such as Hama Cement Plant will gradually release production capacity. This strategy of "internal and external integration, multi-pronged" not only reflects the vulnerability of the wartime industrial system, but also shows the pragmatic path of seeking regional economic integration under sanctions and blockade. The speed of future recovery of the Syrian cement industry will largely depend on the depth of regional cooperation and the continued inflow of foreign investment.
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