Cement firm Cior to build $102 million cement plant

Moroccan cement firm Cior (CIOR.CS) said it would build a 1.0 billion dirhams ($101.8 million) cement plant to expand its share in the local market.

"After thorough studies of the market's situation and its medium and long-term prospects... Cior's board of directors agreed to build a new cement production plant in central Morocco," Cior said in a statement published on Thursday.

The new plant, Atlacim, with a production capacity of one million tons per year, will be located near the city of Settat, 140 km south of Rabat, the statement said.

Atlacim will start operating in 2001, it added.

Cior already has two production plants -- in Oujda near the border with Algeria and near Fez, 200 km east of Rabat.

Morocco's cement sales in 1998 reached 7.15 million tons and are expected to rise by 5 percent in 1999, according to recent statistics by the Moroccan Cement Association.