BUA Group has revealed that dealers and its competitors are responsible for the increasing cement prices in Nigeria.
Following his visit to President Muhammadu Buhari at the State House, Abuja, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of BUA, Abdul Samad Rabiu said even though the company had increased its production capacity and at the same time dropped its price by 10%, the market competitors and dealers are making its effort, less significant.
The BUA CEO maintained that the activities of cement dealers, and other manufacturers, are why the commodity is costly.
His words: “I know everybody is talking about the high price of cement in Nigeria. And that is, of course, because we do not have enough capacity.
“When we started production, the fourth line in Sokoto a few weeks ago, when Mr. President was there to commission the plant, we decided to actually reduce the price of cement by N350 per bag. And that is about 10% of the price.
“So today, our price is N3,000 or N3,050 ex-factory, yet, that has actually not been reflected in the market, simply because the other two producers have actually not reduced the price of cement, so we’re having a challenge. We are actually in a quagmire now.
“We are discussing this because what is happening is that we have reduced it, but the dealers and the distributors are the ones that are actually making the money. So, it’s a bit of an issue for us.”
Speaking further, Rabiu disclosed why he and his team are holding talks with their competitors for the possible reduction of cement prices in the country.
“If you don’t have the support of all the players, it would not be possible. We actually thought that by reducing the price of N350 that the other companies would probably follow suit.
“That has not happened. And we have seen a situation where the price of cement is still high, you know, so distributors and the dealers are making almost N800 to N1000 per bag,” he explained.
