NIGERIA- Tuesday, 13 April 2021: The Management of Dangote Cement Plc. has given reasons for hike in the price of cement.

The company’s Group Executive Director in charge of Strategy, Portfolio Development, and Capital Projects, Devakumar Edwin, in a statement made available to newsmen on Tuesday, disclosed that the price of a bag of cement from its factories and plants in Obajana and Gboko is N2,450, and N2,510 at Ibese.

He noted that these were the prices of cement which included the Value Added Tax (VAT) as of April 12.

Edwin however attributed the high cost of cement in Nigeria to the global rise in demand for cement as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

He stated that “Nigeria is no exception as a combination of monetary policy changes and low returns from the capital market has resulted in a significant increase in construction activity.

“To ensure that we meet local demands, we had to suspend exports from our recently inaugurated export terminals, thereby foregoing dollar earnings.

He further explained that the company had also reactivated its 4.5million ton capacity Gboko Plant which was closed down four years ago and the company is running it at a higher cost.

“This is all in a bid to guarantee that we meet demands and keep the price of cement within control in the country.

 “Over the past 15 months, our production costs have gone up significantly.

“About 50 per cent of our costs are linked to the USD, so the costs of critical components such as gas, gypsum, bags, and spare parts; have increased significantly due to the devaluation of the Naira and VAT increase.