NIGERIA: Dangote dismisses fear of price hike

Dangote Cement Plc has dismissed claims by some manufacturers of cement that the recent upward review of the quality standard by the Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON) will lead to price increase.

The management of Dangote Cement allayed the fears of the consumers that the upgrade of cement quality and the new classification of grades had nothing to do with the price.

Group Managing Director of Dangote Cement, Devakumar Edwin, said in Lagos, at the weekend, that those making such claims were doing so to blackmail the regulatory authorities into backing down on the new quality standard.

He explained in an interview with journalists that for any patriotic manufacturer with consumer interest at heart, there was no relationship between the new standard review and the price of the product except for profiteering.

To buttress his point, Edwin noted that his company started producing 42.5 grade for the past eight years at its Obajana plant and the Ibese plant for about three years at the same price of the lower grade of 32.5 produced by some other competitors.

According to him, the switching over to a higher quality cement shouldn’t be a difficult process that would necessitate increase in price of the product.

The Dangote Cement boss added that his company had even gone ahead to produce 52.5 grade of cement and that it would be uncharitable for anyone to claim that the new standard would lead to price hike for the product.

Edwin then pledged that much as his company would continue to cooperate with government and authorities in the regulation of the cement industry, it would ensure the price was not hijacked by profiteers.

It will be recalled that SON, in the wake of the building collapses across the country and the attendant controversies on the quality of cement being produced in the country, summoned a meeting of stakeholders in the building and construction industry.

The meeting undertook a review of standard of quality of cement and came out with a classification of cement types and their appropriate uses.