Food for Thought
why is cement so expensive?
Because licences are closely guarded and there are no set out rule available for people to know the requirements to set up these industries. Getting information involves a fee. Getting a licence to manufacture or import cement involves a fee. Nigerians please can we ask our government to justify those fees. How is it possible that in a country of 150 million people, we only have pockets of cement manufacturers and cement in Nigeria is more expensive than most other countries in the world. Is cement that hard to produce? I think not. Government should enforce quality of cement brought into the market to prevent building collapse and what not. Other than that it should have no other business in the cement industry. Government involvement in anything smells of corruption. So fellow Nigerians, the only way we can get cheaper cement and more local employment in the cement industry and accelerate real estate developments in our beloved fatherland is to tell the government to mind their business, and get involved only when it is absolutely necessary (safety and quality control).

When dangote donates millions of dollars to campaign funds u think he is doing that cause his middle name is Charity? NO! He is doing that to secure his monopoly on cement and other products.

I have always said it, If we want the price of cement to reduce, the govt should kindly open borders for cement importation since these capitalists like dangote are lying to us that they produce at N1,500 just to satisfy their own selfish interest. If this is done, there would be competitions in the market just like we have with the telecommunication industry. Kill monopoly

And the end is not in sight. All they can do now is to sweet talk us into keeping silent and hoping.

It reminds me of Jackson's Hit Title - "Smooth Criminal"

GEJ: 2011 - 2015
www.nairaland.com/attachments/429070_continuity_gif9a707f56000ec259b18a6e5b45cfa2f7

The reason cement is soooo expensive is soooo simple a question to answer.

1 Fresh Air

2 Getting back election donation investment to maintain Monopoly.

What else?

WHY CANT WE FOR ONCE ON THIS NAIRALAND PLATFORM BE CONCISE IN OUR RESPONSES TO ISSUES? WHY DO WHE HAVE TO ATTRIBUTE ANY ISSUE TO GEJ AND HIS COHORTS?
I LEARNT THAT THE PRICE OF CEMENT HAS CRASHED A LITTLE, A BIG NOW GOES FOR N1500, PLEASE CONFIRM

@poster

ask Dangote

ABIAZIEMO:

WHY CANT WE FOR ONCE ON THIS NAIRALAND PLATFORM BE CONCISE IN OUR RESPONSES TO ISSUES? WHY DO WHE HAVE TO ATTRIBUTE ANY ISSUE TO GEJ AND HIS COHORTS?
I LEARNT THAT THE PRICE OF CEMENT HAS CRASHED A LITTLE, [b]A BIG NOW GOES FOR N1500, [/b]PLEASE CONFIRM

Where is a bag sold for N1,500? And get used to it that people will attribute every issue to GEJ because he is the president, that is the burden of leadership. He voluntarily campaigned and contested for that position.

Cement is so expensive becase Mr. A. Dangote need more money,

We don't make enough of the stuff. Our interests are primarily buying and selling not manufacturing. So one man makes, ten men distribute it, twenty men retail it. We can't square the circle. Demand outstrips supply, period. Most want to build houses, practically all want to live in one but only three or four make the stuff that builds the houses. Its cool to blame Dangote and the government but there's a new call for prospectors to take over government power assets and he's there again. Where are others who have the means. Their own loot are in Swiss banks or at the mercy of shops in Dubai and casinos in Las Vegas. When he, Indians, Chinese and probably South African take over the whole stuff we cry foul again.

[b][b]@abiaziemo (Dangote pikin) where is cement sold for 1,500. Please always back your facts up with evidence.[/b][/b]

.....

Monopoly,demand and cement import resriction.

Fresh air they say

Quetion: why is cement so expensive?


Answer: Because somepeople don dey use am dey Drink GARI

LOL

Fresh Air is also scared of Dangote, if he pulls his wealth from companies in Nigeria, condition go worse.

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B) do you have an ATC for dangote flour,sugar or cement and u want to transport your goods to anywhere within lagos state feel free to call 08034286860 or 07081952483

for CONTAINERS u can only call= 08039789599
FLOUR,CEMENT SUGAR u can call= 08034286860 or 07081952483

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Dangote's Cement is so expensive yet he wants to buy PHCN, what will become of us if he buys PHCN, that means NEPA bill wise rise, they shouldn,t try it, its quite a shame that a country can't manage PHCN now they want to sell it to an individual, so SHAMFUL

@OP,
I'll try to answer without deviating,hopefully i'll be right.

1.Monopoly:Dangote controls a heavy amount of cement in circulation,hence he can influence the demand/supply dynamics
2.Inability to produce cement locally:The cement companies on ground (BCC,Ashaka Cem,Eagle Cement etc) can't meet up to the demand for production.This could be attributed to a number of factors,mainly due to inadequate power supply and imprroper technical axpertise/ability.
3.Additional costs:Not sure if this is significant but import duty,cost of transportation/storage could be a factor,

@ OP
Same way as Kerosine

lahips:

cement pricing is not a duty of just the cement company's, some other factors come into play like the transport cost, the cement price per truck may be favourable but the transport could be high and at such the landing cost will be high, and there are numerous factors that contribute to transport cost being high. Even the distributors may be getting this product at a favourable price but sell at their own agreed price.

Import duty on cement could also be affecting the price, this is for those that import and bag.

Nigerian factor also affects the price, how can we explain the fact that Elephant Cement is landing in Aba for 641,000 per truck (600Bags) and UNICEM (United Cement Company Of Calabar) is landing in that same Aba for 960,000 per truck and yet they still make sales. Nigerians believe that quality things are always higly priced so what can one do.

Competitors price is also a problem, producers in the industry keep competing among themselves at the expense of the buyers.

other factors come into play also, i have limited time so am going back to work.

Point of Correction, there are no Competitors in the Cement manufacturing biz in nigeria
I work with one of the Manfacturing Companies, so i know how it works

simple,

a monopoly,

Multiple tax system is part of what makes cement price so high(value added tax etc). Artificial scarcity created by non production of cement manufacturers.

MeGaStReEt:

@poster

ask Dangote

LOL, you beat me to it


OP ask Dangote, he will tell you.

achiever70:

Multiple tax system is part of what makes cement price so high(value added tax etc). Artificial scarcity created by non production of cement manufacturers.

Please Nigeria doesn't have a complicate tax system so please it ain't no tax.

is it only Dangote? why not blame larfage, NNCM, Ibeto and co?

if you can go all the way to Calabar UniCem slash their price to 1,600, its not by force to use dangote cement,

A major producer of cement in the southern zone, United Cement Company of Nigeria, has slashed the price of a bag of the commodity from over N2,000 to N1,600.

The company also has plans to increase its production capacity from the 1.3 million metric tonnes achieved in 2009 to 1.8 million metric tonnes this year, with a projection of 2.5 million tonnes for 2012.

http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art20110608214982

What I am saying is that we should persuade the government to remove the exorbitant taxes and licenses on goods like'cement which are very important to the development of our great country. They are going to steal the money anyway. Basically the government is very lazy, they onkply know how to charge fees. Believe me, is not that hard to manufacture cement. The license fee for starting up a cement factory is just too much. We need to encourage small scale entrepreneurs. The stress alone involved getting these licence is enough to scare away investors. Nigeria is a country of 150 million people with alot of young people unemployed. Isn't it stupid for the government to now expect entrepreneurs to fork out millions of Naira to invest in a business where there is a possibility that it won't work. These industries should be made easy for every tom dick and harry to get into, as far as they pay their taxes. Tax exempts should be offered to new companies that get into this business. Am all for local manufacturing, as against importation. Please people should stop mentioning jonathan and dangote. Just demand the complete deregulatiin of the industry, and the removal of exorbitant taxes and licence fees (especially the license fees). Demand that there be a straight forward procedure to obtaining and isuueing these licences. We can't be slaves to those who serve us. Every government official is a servant to his people. So they should do whatever we say. We just need a concensus, and it would be done. Dangote doesn't own the country, so can't tell us who to give licences tom and who not to.

The source of hike in price of everything in Nigeria is subject to 3 basic things that are well known to everybody: Poor electricity supply, Deadly road network and capitalist nature of Nigeria economy. Don't be surprise that I said Nigeria is a capitalist nation. I av proof to that effect. If Nigeria can have 80% stable electricity, I can assure u that not only cement but every other essential goods in this country will become bearable for everybody to buy.

Pukkah:

Where is a bag sold for N1,500? And get used to it that people will attribute every issue to GEJ because he is the president, that is the burden of leadership. He voluntarily campaigned and contested for that position.

Thanks jare

Because of Dangote's cement monopolization.

GEJ pls break cement cabal (the way u did fuel) by allowing importation of cement, then Dangote wldn't have option other than 2 be forced 2 start selling a bag of cement the real worth.

Not only cement, Dangote liased and triked the govt then into banning some stuffs & giving only him the right to produce & import. How wld only one man be running cement cartel in country of 150million +, that sounds crazy.

Ppl like Dangote shld be involved 2 restructure economies in advanced countries going by how much he sucks in Nigeria, but the problem here is that he's not a genius but an intelligent criminal.

Q: Why is Cement so Expensive?
A: Because in Nigeria, there is a government-sponsored cement oligopoly, with Dangote being the primary beneficiary.