Reprieve for cement consumers as BUA Cement crashes ex-factory price 24.7% to N3,500

By Onome Amuge

BUA Cement PLC has led the charge towards making cement affordable for consumers, especially those in the building and construction industry, following a 24.7 per cent reduction of the price of its ex-factory cement product from N4,650 to N3,500  which takes effect from Monday, October 2, 2023.

The second largest cement producer in the Nigerian market with a total combined installed capacity of 11 million metric tonnes per annum, announced the development in a statement posted on its X (formerly Twitter) page.

BUA Cement emphasised that the price reduction action is in line with its commitment to spur development in the “building materials and infrastructural sectors”. This, Business A.M understands, would crash the cement price in the market from the previous price of N5,000 to as low as N3,800 per bag.

The slash in cement price comes weeks after  Abdul Samad Rabiu, the company’s meeting with President Bola Tinubu, where he promised to review the price of the product.

The statement read in part, “We refer to our previous pronouncements regarding our intent to reduce cement prices upon the completion of our new lines at the end of the year, in order to spur development in the building materials and infrastructure sectors.

“As per the commitment made to reduce prices and following a periodic review of our operations for efficiency, the management of BUA Cement Plc wishes to announce and inform our esteemed customers, stakeholders, and the public that effective October 2, 2023, we have decided to bring the price reduction forward. As a result, BUA Cement would now be sold at an ex-factory* price of 3,500 Naira per bag so that Nigerians can begin to enjoy the benefits of the price reduction before the completion of our plants.

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

Prior to the announcement, AbdulSamad Rabiu, had assured Nigerians that the completion of the company’s Obu Line 3 and the Sokoto Line 5 cement plants by the end of the year would lead to a reduction in the price of cement across the country.

According to Rabiu, the two production lines will give a combined capacity of six million tonnes,boosting the company’s total production capacity to 70 million tonnes per annum.

“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,” he explained..