‘So? It’s normal’ BUA boss, Rabiu, defends cement price increase

BUA Cement Plc has defended the N200 cement price increment and revealed how the prices of cement can crash in the face of the high cost of the product across the country.

The second-largest cement producer in Nigeria said that cement prices will crash if Nigeria has more producers.

Nigeria currently has 3 major cement producers namely; Dangote Cement, BUA Cement and Lafarge Cement. Their combined 30 million tonnes per annum production does not meet rising local demand.

This disclosure was made by the Chairman of BUA Cement Company, Alhaji Abdul-Samad Rabiu, at the Annual General Meeting of the company on Thursday in Abuja.

He said that with increased production by additional companies, the prices of cement is expected to tumble.

Rabiu urged the Federal Government to licence more cement manufacturers with a view to meeting local demand.

“The high price of cement is of great concern for me; the price is actually high. We are 210 million or 220 million people, 30 million tonnes of cement per annum is actually low for us. No one can really control the price because it depends on demand and supply. We are trying hard to ensure the price is not as high as it is now.

“Nigeria is growing with a huge economy; we need more plants on stream to cater to the rising demand for cement in the country. Egypt produces 85 tonnes of cement per annum and the demand for cement in that country is just 50 million tonnes per annum and that is why the prices of cement in Egypt are the lowest on the African continent,” Rabiu said.

However, this was in contrast to the company’s initial stand when reports first filtered in that BUA was planning to increase cement price in April 2021.

BUA Cement had refuted claims about any purported increase in the ex-factory price of its cement by N300 per bag saying that it had no plans to raise the price of its product in the near future.

This is as BUA blames the huge difference between the ex-factory prices and the retail prices of cement on the distributors and retailers who are taking advantage of increased cement demand and insufficient supply to make maximum profits.

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