Up 30% since New Year, though sales growth much below earlier estimate; supply regulation alleged.
Since the Union Budget’s presentation in end-February, cement companies have accelerated price increases. Last fortnight witnessed all-India average prices going up a little over 10 per cent and set to hit Rs 300 for a 50-kg bag soon.
Currently, the all-India cement price is Rs 290 a bag; it was Rs 255 a bag two years earlier. Industry experts said the first three quarters of the current financial year did not see higher profits for companies. In the second quarter, marked by the monsoon, several regional cement makers had slipped into the red, with operational losses.
The Mumbai market again took the lead in raising prices last week.
Cement companies raised their prices, pushed the retail level to Rs 305 a bag. In Kolkata, it is around Rs 295; in the north, at Rs 285. In the south, cement is available at an average of Rs 285 — in Kochi at Rs 315, in Bangalore at Rs 280 and in Hyderabad at Rs 265 a bag.
CEOs of large and mid-sized companies across the region that Business Standard spoke to rejected the possibility of any reduction in prices till May, before the monsoon sets in.
“Cement prices will either go further up or stabilise at current levels. But there is no room for prices to slip,” said the top executive of a company having its operations in the north.
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