India cement prices stable and no plan for regulator

India cement prices stable and no plan for regulator
17 March 2008


Mr Ashwani Kumar, India’s union state minister of industry, said that cement prices in India have stabilised since March 2007 and there was no plan to set up a separate regulator for the sector.

Mr Kumar said that centre has abolished import duties and allowed state run trading firms MMTC, TANCEM of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry Agro Services Industries Corp to import cement last year to bridge the demand-supply gap and stem price rise. He added that: "With these measures, the average price of cement has stabilised to a large extent showing an increase of only 2.67% between March 2007 and January 2008."

According to latest figures compiled by Cement Manufacturers’ Association of India, cement production during April 2007 to January 2008 period has rose by 7% YoY from a year earlier to 136.56Mt. India’s annual cement demand is rising by 10% as it scales up infrastructure to sustain a high growth rate.
Published under Cement News