Diamond Cement says retailers should not increase price of product

Aflao, March 08, GNA - Diamond Cement Ghana Limited (DCGL), the Aflao-based company that produces Portland cement, has written to its distributors asking them to refrain from raising the retail price of its cement above the recommended price of 53,000 cedis per bag of 50 kilograms.

"Though we are no more in a price control regime, it is also not in your and our interest to sell our product at any price," the letter stated.

Mr Chitti Babu, General Manager of the Company, showed a copy of the letter to the GNA when the agency contacted him on the reported increase in the retail price of cement in the country.

He said the price rises might be due to the dip in supplies even though the DCGL had been producing at full capacity to meet the rush for the product from distributors in the Accra and Tema.

"We are currently delivering 3,000 metric tonnes daily at full capacity," the GCGL General Manager said.

Mr Babu said the ex-factory price of the DCGL brand was 45,195 cedis with the recommended retail price in the Accra and Tema areas being 53,000 cedis.

He said there was no reason why the retail price of their cement should hover between 55,000 cedis and 62,000 cedis in Accra and throughout the country.

Mr Babu said the sudden flight in prices might be due to the extra long chain of dealers between the factory gate and consumers. In Aflao where the Company is located, the product is selling at 51,000 cedis per bag and 53,000 cedis in adjoining towns, instead of the recommended price of 49,000 cedis.

Retailers and haulage truck drivers told the GNA at the factory gate that the rush was due to some level of scarcity in the Accra area. They said days of waiting at Aflao for supplies was also pushing their overheads up which would in turn affect the price.