Industry

Falling sales and rising costs are pushing segments of Jordan’s mining industry to broaden their client base and expand value-added activities.

An expanding middle class and a broadening economic base have been cited as two of the driving forces behind the forecast for rapid expansion of the Indonesian automotive industry, with predictions that domestic and regional demand will combine to boost growth over the next few years. However, rising interest rates and a weaker rupiah may put a damper on sales in the more immediate term.

While cement manufacturers in Oman are expanding operations to meet new domestic and international demand, they continue to face a challenging business environment due to intense foreign competition. However, the outlook for future growth remains positive as the government rolls out infrastructure projects as part of its current five-year economic development plan.

Auto manufacturers based in Thailand are continuing to boost production capacity, with ground being broken for a series of new plants and expansions to existing facilities. However, there are some concerns that both domestic and export sales may ease later in the year due to expected economic cooling at home and abroad.

Rising competition and the threat of higher costs at home could see Saudi Arabia’s petrochemicals industry come under increased pressure. However, these impending challenges have so far failed to slow the progress of new projects being rolled out across the Kingdom.

Plans to roll out full car production in Saudi Arabia, part of a broader programme to expand the kingdom’s industrial base, appear set to pick up a gear, with one of the world’s best known marques moving to establish a local manufacturing facility at a time when sales of imported vehicles are rising.