German cement prices

Both HeidelbergCement and Dyckerhoff expect cement prices this year to show an increase on average of between €10 and €12 per tonne over 2003 and an effective price at the end of the year some €20 per tonne above the low point in the early autumn of last year.  According to HeidelbergCement, the market leader, cement prices are currently around €9 per tonne above the low point in the third quarter of last year.  Not surprisingly, the price recovery has been more pronounced in southern Germany, where the market is less fragmented.   Intense competition in the fragmented ready-mixed concrete markets of certain big cities, notably Frankfurt but also to some extent in Stuttgart in the south, has slowed down the rolling out of price increases, though a number of term contracts for the supply of cement are believed to have expired in April.