Saudi consumers weigh in on cement export dispute
Saudi Arabia’s Consumer Protection Association has called for lower cement prices while producers of the commodity seek to end a 10-month ban on exports which they blame for eroding their margins.
Since its imposition in June, the ban on exports "had a positive impact in making cement available and capping the rise in cement prices," the government-sponsored association said in a faxed statement.
"The citizen and investor have noticed the natural decrease in the (prices) of the majority of products accordingly with the global decline but cement firms and factories have not considered this," it said.
"Rather, cement firms insisted on fixing prices when they asked the authorities to allow exports after they ended up with a production surplus ... in a blatant violation of the antitrust principles applied by our wise government," it added.
Source: Reuters
Published under Cement News
