Top cement producer, Lafarge Zambia has confirmed the increase in its cement prices on the market by about 20% and has attributed the increase to the current macro-economic factors that the country is facing which have been exacerbated by the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.
A random survey conducted by the Zambian Business Times – ZBT team showed that all cement manufactures have increased market prices in the last one week from as low as K95 per 50Kg bag to K125 per 50Kg and K81 per 50Kg bag to K119Kg respectively.
And when Lafarge was contacted for a comment, the company’s Corporate Affairs and Communications Manager Sarah Banda told ZBT in an exclusive interview that the company has increased the cement price in order to sustain business operations and ensure that it continues to provide quality cement to its valued customers.
She said the company’s operation and input costs have significantly increased, the most notable being maintenance, transport and packaging material costs which have increased by an average of 33% in the last six (6) months.
“It should also be noted that we don’t comment about the prices of competitor cement producers. We take pricing decisions unilaterally and primarily on the basis of our own business circumstances and conditions,” She said.
However, the market sentiment is that cement prices may increase further going forward and when asked if Lafarge is likely to increase or reduce its prices going forward, Sarah said pricing is determined by many factors including but not limited to escalation of costs hence pricing decisions will be dependent on the performance of these macro-economic factors.
Lafarge Zambia has been operating in Zambia for 71 years now with a wide footprint of projects and distribution outlets. Lafarge is part of the LafargeHolcim group, which is globally the largest cement producer in the world.
