Lafarge Malaysia holds off on price hike

Lafarge Malaysia Cement has no immediate plans to increase cement prices, despite a hike in electricity tariffs this year its president and CEO, Bradley Mulroney, said.

The company last increased prices in August 2012 when it implemented a MYR20/t increment.

“I wouldn’t say it is an urgent need to increase price. But when the input cost is going up, of course we have to review on a monthly basis,” Mulroney said.

“We will work on maintaining energy efficiency in our operations, and see how much we can absorb. But right now now, the answer is no,” he said in response to the question of whether Lafarge has plans to increase prices.

In 2013, Lafarge’s net profit rose 10.5 per cent YoY to MYR386.19m, compared to MYR349.49m the year before. Revenue rose 4.1 per cent to MYR2.85bn. Mulroney attributed the group’s performance to construction activities taking place, as well as improved efficiency.

Going forward, Mulroney remains upbeat on the outlook for the domestic construction sector, mainly driven by the continued progress of government-led  investments and key infrastructure projects, as well as ongoing residential and commercial developments.

“The market is fairly well-oriented. Malaysia has a young population and we see the demographic need for housing activities, so there’s a lot of growth to go,” he said.