India: Kerala businesses protest high cement prices

India: Kerala businesses protest high cement prices
15 July 2016


The Government Contractors Association (GCA) in Kerala has hit out at the state government’s failure to control cement prices, which have reached INR430 (US$6.40) for a 50kg bag, the Deccan Chronicle reports.

The head of the GCA in Kerala, Varghese Kannampally, noted that production costs for a bag of cement are about INR70 (US$1.04). Mr Kannampally observed that in neighbouring Tamil Nadu, the state government had reached an agreement with producers to supply agreed quantities of cement for INR190 (US$2.83).

The GCA head noted that the Keralan government was reluctant to cut prices as they currently helped to support the publicly-owned producer Malabar Cements and brought in tax revenues.

Published under Cement News