Cemex announces Mexican price rise

The average price of cement in Mexico will increase five per cent effective immediately, newspaper El Norte quoted officials from cement maker Cemex as saying.  The raise comes as cement makers have had to assume increased production costs, they said. Cement prices increased 1.8% during 2004, compared with a 5.2 per cent inflation rate that year. Cement distributors will increase their prices 7-8 per cent right away, bringing the price for a sack of cement to about 97 pesos (US$8.69), the paper reported.

Reportedly, over the last five years, Cemex has upped cement prices 20.1 per cent while inflation increased 29.3 per cent. Over the same period, other construction materials such as steel increased more than 100 per cent, while the costs of utilities used in production such as electricity and gas have also jumped more than 100 per cent.