Qatar: Qatar National Cement Company plans to commission two cement mills for its Plant 5 during the first half of 2017 to increase its production capacity to 5500t/day. Then, construction work on the kiln will be completed in the second half of the year, according to comments made by Salem bin Butti Al Naimi, chairman and managing director of the company, that were reported by the Peninsular newspaper. The company intends to increase its production capacity of washed sand and calcium carbonate to capture an anticipated rise in market demand. It also intends to sell its Plant 1 to Umm Bab following an agreement in mid-2016. The cement producer s revenue fell by 2.6% year-on-year to US$313m in 2016 from US$321m in 2015. Its cement sales volumes fell slightly to 3.7Mt during the period. Its net profit rose by 2.3% to US$130m from US$127m.