SICMA to make cement available at a reasonable price

South Indian Cement Manufacturers’ Association (SICMA) has announced that based on the request made by the Ministry of Industries, it has ensured the public that during the pandemic, the company will make sure that cement is available at a reasonable price. Currently, the domestic cement industry is undergoing difficult times due to the second Covid-19 wave, working only at 30-40% capacity utilisation. The second wave of Covid-19 has severely affected the domestic cement generation. All India production decreased 35% month-on-month in April 2021 and was below 4% compared to April 2019. The cement firms have undertaken price hikes by an average of 5% in April 2021. This hike is driven due to the rise in the input costs, primarily power and fuel costs and freight expenses over the last few months. However, the price of the cement is expected to sustain in the near term, higher input costs because of the increase in crude oil prices and under-absorption of overheads likely to result in a reduction of EBITDA/tonne to around Rs 1,200 per tonne in Q1FY22, lower by 20% year-on-year and 6-7% quarter-on-quarter basis. The 25-member body SICMA also said it is working with the Tamil Nadu government to make cement available at a reasonable price to the weaker parts of the society. Image Source Also read: Construction, real estate industry protests against surging cement price Also read: Cement offtake dropped 25% in April-June: ICRA