Online Reporter
Business Reporter
CEMENT prices are expected to stabilise following the Government’s decision to lift restrictions on imports and the anticipated increase in local output by domestic producers, the Ministry of Industry and Commerce has said.
In a statement, the ministry said it had issued 145 000 tonnes of import licences from the beginning of October this year to date, and the measure was starting to bear fruit since the product has started arriving.
The country has been experiencing a constrained supply of cement due to a number of factors converging at the same critical period.
Most noteworthy is the limited domestic production resulting from a widespread shortage of clinker across the cement industry.
Concurrently, some key players were affected by operational issues.
Sino Zimbabwe was undergoing scheduled maintenance, while others, such as PPC and Lafarge, experienced plant breakdowns.
This led to a 40 percent jump in prices over the past months, severely inflating the budgets of ongoing construction projects.
“It is pleasing to note that Sino Zimbabwe has since resumed production and players in the industry have started picking up the product,” said the ministry. “PPC Zimbabwe also indicated that their Bulawayo plant, which had broken down, has since been repaired and now they are in production.”
