ACC, the country’s largest cement maker, is expected to restructure its product prices across the country within a fortnight, with a combination of cuts and hikes.
The Rs 8,000-crore (by sales) company, which is taking its overall capacity to 30.58 million tonnes by 2010 from the current 22.63 million tonnes, has presence in Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
J DattaGupta, chief commercial officer of the company, told Business Standard, “Depending on the demand supply scenario, we may reduce prices in some regions and likewise increase the prices in others.” When asked in which areas would the company cut and increase prices, DattaGupta said the company would work this out in the next two weeks’ time.
Cement consumption growth, over the last six months, has been maintained at above 8 per cent on account of demand pouring in from rural, semi-urban regions and more importantly, the pre-election demand.
The price hike of cement prices in the March quarter had once again brought the cement industry in the limelight at a time when the government took favourable measures to boost the building commodity demand in the domestic market. The industry raised the prices in not less than three rounds by a total of Rs 12-15 per bag.
ACC’s net profit during the March quarter was 23 per cent up at Rs 399 crore against Rs 324 crore in the previous corresponding quarter.
