Cement prices may rise by Rs 5 per bag

The Cement prices are expected to rise by Rs 5 per bag from October 1 as demand from the local and regional market is mounting due to the heavy rains and floods and restructuring of infrastructure thereafter. The current cement prices are in the range of Rs 160-Rs 175 per bag, depending upon brands and varieties.

All the cement producers have decided to raise prices assuming increase in demand, across the country, within a month.

"There is no phenomenal increase in cement demand from Mumbai now as there is less construction activity going on due to continuous rains. Other parts of the country are also badly affected by rains and floods. The volume of rainfall has come down in the last two days in Mumbai but this is not enough for expecting demand today," said Sanam Patel, vice president, S Jamshedji & Co, a trader in Mumbai.

"The construction activities slacken when the festival season starts with Ganapati. The actual construction work will start at least after a month, once the rainy season ends," he added.

"When construction activities begins, all four major areas of cement consuming sectors, such a housing development programmes, promotion of concrete highways and roads, use of ready-mix concrete in large infrastructure projects and construction of concrete roads in rural areas, under Prime Ministers Gram Sadak Yojana will become vigorous," patel said. In the construction industry, plans take months for actual implementation, thus the demand slowly picks up, he said.

But producers have to project the industry demand well in advance and increase the output as per projected consumption.