Zambia’s one of the largest cement producers Mpande Limestone Ltd – Sinoma – is set to increase cement prices by K4 claiming high cost of doing business as the reason behind.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with the Zambian Business Times – ZBT, Mpande Limestone Ltd – Sinoma Officials confirmed that effective Monday 30th October 2023 all prices are to increase by K4 due to high cost of doing business.
Cement prices are now an economically sensitive matter as the country is undertaking massive infrastructure projects of which cement is a key overall cost determinant.
Although other major cement producers are yet to confirm the percentage increase, the revelation from the two cement producers (Chilanga Cement who earlier confirmed a 10% increase) and now Mpande Limestone Ltd – Sinoma increase of K4, has great potential to negatively affect the construction sector.
The officials argued that, “we are increasing because when bringing in most of the products that we use, the cost of fuel has gone up and then everything that we purchase be it locally we do it in dollar and then we resell cement in Kwacha.”
“So after calculations it was discovered that the company is running at a loss so we are just trying to recover from that.”
The officials who asked for their names to be withheld said the biggest contributor to this is fuel, “because all transporters that we use to bring in the raw product have actually also hiked their prices for us.”
Increasing the prices of cement can have various impacts which may also lead to high inflation and have an overall impact on the economy.
