‘Importation not best solution’ — BUA mulls reduction of cement price

Abdul Samad Rabiu, chairman of BUA Group, says his company is working towards reducing the price of cement.

The planned price reduction, he said, is in a bid to support the economic plans of the federal government.

Dave Umahi, minister of works, had recently said he would dialogue with cement manufacturers over reducing the prices of their products.

The minister said contractors have complained about the high cost of cement, adding that they insinuated that importing the product would be cheaper.

Speaking on Thursday at the company’s 7th annual general meeting (AGM), Rabiu said BUA Group intends to achieve a reduction in price by improving the production capacity of its cement-producing plants.

“By the end of the year, we intend to have two more production lines on stream which will boost our production capacity by at least 40 per cent to 70 million tons,” Daily Trust quoted him as saying.

“The idea of increasing production capacity is to see how we can be able to drop prices on our part to support the government’s efforts because importation will not be the best solution.

“The average price of cement in Nigeria is N4,500 which translates into N90,000 per ton or $100. So if the government threatens to start importing cement, it will even cost them more because the forex is now high and when you bring it through the ports, you must pay taxes, trucking and other levies which will add to the price.”

Rabiu said the company outperformed its competitors in terms of cement volume growth in the 2022 fiscal year.

He said the company’s revenue increased by 40.3 percent to N361.9 billion in 2022, from N257.3 billion in 2021.

He added that the post-tax profit appreciated by 12.1 percent to N101.1 billion from N90.1 billion in 2021.

Meanwhile, shareholders of the company approved the payment of N2.80 as dividend for the year, higher than the N2.60 paid in the preceding year.