While the cement industry continues to face the heat of the rainy season and labour shortage due to COVID-19, demand is expected to pick up post Diwali. According to research and brokerage firm Anand Rathi, shrinking cement prices and demand continued in the rain-hit month, August, a normal trend. Further, rising COVID-19 cases, unavailable labour and partial lockdowns persisted. Having said that, according to the research firm, dealers now expect demand to rise post-Diwali as labour will start returning to sites and construction sites will also restart. In August 2020, demand for cement slumped by 10-35 per cent. With a considerable dip in demand, most regions reported a fall in price with the exception of Eastern India, which maintained a high cement price level at Rs.340-350 per bag.