By Tosin Olatokunbo
BUA may have shattered the hopes of many Nigerians planning to build houses of their own over its decision to increase the factory price of its cement by at least N200 per bag. What this means, is that a bag of BUA Cement would now be sold between N3000 and N3400, market sources said.
The company’s latest move is however, contrary to its earlier resolve to retains its former price despite price surge introduced by competitors such as Dangote Cement.
The cement firm owned by billionaire business tycoon, Rabiu Abdulsammad, had in June assured its major distributors to discountenance rumour of a price surge following reports that the management was planning to hike the price of cement made at its factory.
Cement price has been on a steady rise for over a year, from N2800 to N4000 depending on the brand and locations in the country, and rumour had spread like wild fire, last month that another price increase was in the offing, forcing BUA to issue a statement that the firm had no plan to increase the price of its own product.
The major cement companies have been accused of manipulating production in order to push the price up claims that BUA denied. The company said it would ramp up production to stabilize the price rather than engaging in profiteering.
The firm said in a statement that “We stand by our previous statements that the timing is not right for any increase in the price of major commodities while we work towards ramping up our production capacity to ensure that commodities like cement remain accessible and affordable for our consumers.
“While we are aware that demand for cement is high with current supply levels not sufficient to meet this increased demand, we do not believe the solution lies in an increase in ex-factory prices of cement – especially not at this period.
“It is our strong conviction that any increase in prices of major commodities at a time like this is not right – while Nigerians are still trying to recover from the economic consequences brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic – especially for a product for which all raw materials are locally sourced.
“BUA Cement, therefore, wishes to restate that it is not a part of the purported increase in cement prices and, we once again, enjoin and appeal to our distributors, who have been advised, to ensure there are no further arbitrary increases or excessive profit-taking in the retail price of cement.”
The company said the clarification is necessary to clear the air on the purported increase of its cement price. Some distributors and customers of the company have been agitated over the rumour and wanted to know the truth, the firm said.
“We are compelled to release this statement following requests from our distributors and customers seeking clarification as to whether BUA also intends to increase the price of its cement. This is in view of a purported increase of N260 by another major Cement producer,” BUA said.
In spite of this, the factory price of BUA cement, the magazine learnt has now been increased by at least N200 per bag. “We did not get our last supply in the old price, so you don’t expect us to sell at former price. We can only sell based on the prevailing factory price,” a cement seller said, adding that “a bag of BUA cement is now between N3200 and N3300 in the market.”
