Great wall cement, a brand name one of the cement products for Baudot Cement Zambia Limited who were the only company whose cement prices remained unchanged has disclosed to the Zambian Business Times – ZBT in an exclusive interview that they are also increasing their cement prices effective tommorrow 1 August, 2020.
Baudot Cement Zambia Business Manager Mira Zheng told ZBT that there has been a hike in gypsum prices from about US$30 per tonne to over US$75 per tonne, which is over 100% increase in a major input, which has forced the company to follow suite and increase its cement prices. Zheng stated that the company would like to keep the prices down but the price of gypsum which was mostly locally supplied has shot up.
There is shortage of gypsum locally and this is what is leading to the sudden sharp increase in prices. Baudot cement used to get its gypsum from Chambeshi metals but because the company had gone on care and maintenance [basically closed in terms of operations], there is a shortage and the suppliers who have it have hiked the prices by over 100%.
In January 2020, ZBT reported that ‘the announced shut down and placement on care and maintenance of Chambeshi Metals threatens to impact the construction industry negatively through price escalation as the company is the country’s major producer of gypsum, a key ingredient in the manufacturing of cement”.
Chambishi Metals, which is owned by Eurasia Resources Group – ERG produces gypsum which is used in cement manufacturing and is a very important ingredient. So if Chambishi Metals ceases production, the cement price will most likely go up because the manufacturers of cement have to resort to imports from South Africa and else where” – see ZBT January article…
Baudot Cement’s great Wall cement brand will increase its cement prices effective tommorow 1 August 2020 from K90 for a 50kg bag to K110 without delivery and K119 with deliverly within Lusaka.
The Zambian Business Times – ZBT had called for the amicable settlement between the owners of Chambeshi Metals, the Mine Workers Union – MUZ and the Zambian government in January 2020 to ensure that the company remains operational as it impacts heavily on the cost of construction in Zambia.
The country is currently undertaking huge infrastructure projects and most of the citizens have also engaged in residential and commercial building to plug the gap in housing and commercial building.
Now that its becoming clear what the reasons behind the sudden hike in prices is because of the closure of Chambishi metals, there is need for urgent efforts to resolve the operational challenges and agree on how full local gypsum production can resume immediately. There is need to restore or cut down the overall cement market prices which has gone up by over 30%.
