Cement dealers await BUA’s price cut to reflect in markets

Cement dealers in parts of the country are still waiting for the recently announced price cut by BUA to reflect in the markets, findings have shown.

The management of BUA Cement had on Sunday announced a reduction in the ex-factory price of its cement from N5,500 to N3,500, adding that the new price would commence on Monday.

The announcement came a couple of weeks after Abdul Samad Rabiu, the company’s chairman, met with President Bola Tinubu and promised to review the price of the product. This move followed the company’s earlier hint on reducing cement prices upon the completion of its new lines at the end of the year in order to spur development in the building materials, housing and infrastructure sectors.

Builders and other operators in the housing sector hailed the move, describing it as a courageous step towards stemming the tide in the building materials market, and also increasing affordability and home access by the country’s army of low-income earners.

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A survey on the price of the product in different markets in several states – Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt, however, reveals that the commodity was still being sold at the old price of N5,600.

In Lagos, in over eight markets surveyed across four locations — Adeniji Adele in Lagos Island, Ketu in Ojo, Ikotun-Egbe in Alimosho, and Suru Alaba in Ajeromi Ifelodun, some dealers said they did not have the product.

A dealer in Festac Town told our reporter that he was selling the product at the old price.

Another dealer, who introduced himself simply as Thomas, said: “Though BUA says it has crashed price to N3,500, their nearest factory is in Edo State and when we calculate the cost of loading and offloading as well as haulage, particularly now that the price of diesel is over N1,000, we that are in Lagos can only sell between N5,050 and N5,100 if we add up the cost of bringing it to Lagos from Edo.”

In Abuja, Monday Okafor, a major distributor at the Nyanya area of the city, told one of our reporters that the price reduction had not been effected, adding that both BUA and Dangote brands were available but selling at old prices.

In Port Harcourt, some distributors said they did not have the product in stock.

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Our reporter in Benin City found out that the market was yet to see the new price as announced by BUA. Osagie Imafidon, a dealer in Benin City, said the price of BUA cement still remained between N4,300 and N4,500, adding that he was yet to get new stock.

Aminu Mohammed, a dealer at Jattu in Etsako West local government and Dauda Ishaku from Auchi, said the price of BUA Cement still remained the same. He said he bought the product from one of the major dealers on Monday at N4,300.

At building material market at Ojike Lane, Aba, a BUA distributor told our reporter that he was yet to get supply at the new price, disclosing that he still had old stock and would comply with the new price regime when they got new supply at the new price.

BUA Cement is Nigeria’s second-largest cement company, with a current installed capacity of 11 million metric tonnes per annum. The company aims to reach 17 million metric tonnes annually by completing two new plants in Edo and Sokoto by early 2024.

The company has promised that “upon completion of the ongoing construction of our new plants, which would increase our production volumes to 17million metric tonnes per annum, BUA Cement intends to review these prices further in line with our earlier pronouncements by the first quarter of 2024.”