ISLAMABAD: The cement manufactures have increased the price of their produce by Rs30 per 50kg bag from Rs510 per bag to Rs540 per bag, Business Recorder has learnt.
Cement dealers and distributors told this correspondent here on Monday, despite a significant increase in cement sales which reached an all-time high 5.2 million tons in September, the plant owners instead of reducing the cement prices have increased the rates by Rs30 per bag from Rs510 per bag in August to Rs540 at present.
Traders said that as compared with September 2019 an increase of 0.9 million tons in cement consumption witnessed as in September 2019 it was recorded at 4.3 million tons which reached to 5.2 million tons.
According to fresh cement consumption and sales-related data released by All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA) on Saturday, local cement uptake in September increased 17.7 percent to 4.1 million tons as compared with 3.5 million tons in September last year.
Exports increased 41 percent to 1.1 million tons from 0.79 million tons in the same month last year.
Cement dealers and distributors said that as in July 2020, when the government gave relaxation to the construction sector from the coronavirus lockdown to start full operations with the start of the construction activities, the cement manufactures immediately increased the cement price by Rs20 per bag from Rs490 per bag to Rs510, which now has been taken to Rs540 per bag.
They alleged that like wheat flour and sugar millers, the cement manufacturers also have made billions of rupees by fleecing masses.
When this correspondent tried to get the view point of the Ministry of Industries on the cement price escalation, no official was available to comment.
However, according to the sources, the Ministry of Industries and Production has no role in monitoring or fixation of cement price.
According to official sources in budget 2020-2021, the government has announced to reduce the Federal Excise Duty on cement by Rs0.50 per kg. Considering this incentive, the cement price should have been slashed by Rs25 per bag, but the cement manufactures also followed the example of sugar and wheat flour millers association, and jacked up the prices.
People associated with construction industry told Business Recorder, the representatives of the construction industry repeatedly have informed the officials concerned that the cement manufactures are not passing on the benefits to the construction industry of incentives provided by the government.
Chaudhary Mian Aziz, a construction industry representative, said that during the past two months, in reality cement manufacturers have hiked the price by Rs75 per bag as they took the price from Rs490 per bag to Rs540, and also did not pass the benefit of tax reduction to the industry.
The sources said the Ministry of Industries and Production had no capacity to determine production cost of cement, and therefore could not fix the commodity prices.
When contacted, an official of the APCMA North Zone said he was unaware of any such increase in commodity prices and association had not taken any such decision in this connection so far.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020