As a result of the high demand, prices of cement had shot up to a record high of between N2,000 and N2,100 between January and February. A market survey by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), however, shows that within the last two weeks, prices of the commodity have dropped to between N1,680 and N1,800.
In Abuja metropolis, a bag of cement is sold for N1,720 while in the satellite towns, a bagsells for between N1,680 and N1,720. Mr Vincent Edewor, a cement dealer at Dei-Dei market, told NAN that the commodity was supplied to him at N1,600 with additional N50 per bag, being cost of loading from thefactory.
He said: "The product gets to Abuja at N1,650 from the factory, and we pay the labourers N50 per bag to off-load into the warehouse."All this must be added to the cost price to determine how much a bag must be sold in the market.
"What we are witnessing now is the result of the Federal Government intervention inthe cement business."
