Dangote Cement Plc has announced that the price of the commodity is expected to drop further by at least N100 for the 42.5 grade of cement and N300 for the 32.5 grade, which would be launched next week.
According to the firm, the move to expand its product offering in the cement market is in compliance with the cement reclassification directive and regulation on use of the commodity by the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON).
Specifically, the company stated that the price of the 32.5 cement grade, would sell for N200 lower than the price of the higher strength 42.5.
The completion of Dangote’s expanded plants at Ibese, Ogun state and Obajana Cement Plant in Kogi State, adds nine million metric tonnes to the existing capacity of the two plants, as the company’s managers express optimism of the expansion further bridging the demand-supply gap and aiding the increase of the nation’s per capita cement consumption.
Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the company, Edwin Devakumar, while disclosing this in Lagos yesterday said the 32.5 cement grade from Dangote Cement is also to ensure consumers pay the right price for the right value so that consumers would not be paying more for lower grade as is presently the case.
The largest cement producer in Nigeria noted that the move is to develop an array of cement types to meet the varying needs of consumers for the different grades of cement.
Dangote with this move, now produces 42.5 for column casting, block making, decking and other general purpose construction work that require high strength, while also producing the premium 32.5 grade for plastering and flooring only.
The company also expressed commitment to continue with its nationwide campaign and capacity building which it initiated and has sustained, to ensure that the different grades of cement are easily identified by users and used only for their prescribed purposes.
The company is also pushing out the 52.5 grade for specialised construction of high strength and specialised structures such as bridges, flyovers among others.
Edwin explained that the 32.5 grade of cement, which has the lowest strength among the various cement products, is priced lower than the others, selling for N200 lower than the price of the higher strength 42.5.
Dangote said in compliance with the SON standard for cement quality and packaging, the lower 32.5 type on the Dangote shelf will be clearly labelled as such, in order to prevent the problem of misapplication and misuse of the product which has become rampant in the nation’s building and construction industry.
The company also assured that the expansion, which has led to an increased supply of cement to the nation’s market, would also result in a price reduction of around 100 naira per every 50kg bag of cement.
“We have significantly increased the supply of cement to the market and as it is expected the enhancement in supply of the product to the market has also resulted to a reasonable reduction in the price of the product,” Devakumar said.
He hinted that the formal inauguration of the new 9 million tonnes capacity enhancement will hopefully be carried out by President Goodluck Jonathan very soon.
