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In an interview, Pretoria Portland Cement (PPC) commercial director Mr Gavin Stephens confirmed the increase saying the major reason was the increase in input costs.
PPC is one of the cement manufacturers in the country. Sino-Zimbabwe and Lafarge are the other producers.
“We have increased our prices by five percent because of the increases in input costs as the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority and many other bodies’ charges are high forcing our prices to go up.
“I don’t know if other manufacturers have also increased their prices but for us, we have increased our prices so as to balance with the input and production costs,” he said.
In separate interviews officials from some of the building material suppliers in the city said the increase in the price of cement by the manufacturers would have a knock-on effect on retailers’ pricing structures of the product.
Alex Plumbers general manager Mr Phineas Matava said they had also increased their prices so as to reach a break-even point.
“We also increased by the same margin as we had no option but to follow suit because we have to make profit at the end of the day to make sure that our business keeps going.
“Suppliers have been citing problems of high power charges and other expenses which resulted in the increase and we don’t know if these challenges are real because they always come up with excuses when they change prices,” he said.
He said this was going to slow down their business in a way as customers were likely to respond to the changes in prices.
“Customers may not know it is not our fault to increase prices and this may affect us a bit but we need to sell the product anyway,” Mr Matava said.
A sales person from Easy Build, Mr Prichard Ndlovu, said he was aware of the changes but they were yet to make any changes.
“We are also going to increase but people are still clearing their old stocks so that they adopt the new changes that are on the market.
“We are not really sure why the prices have suddenly gone up but we are forced to increase prices also for us to keep existing,” he said.
Another sales person from Main World Cement, Mr Joshua Munkuli, said they were also yet to change as they were still selling at the old price.
“We will definitely increase as the producers have raised their prices. Supply is still normal though, as cement is readily available on the market,” he said.
Online Reporter