Dangote Cement Plc Slashes Price To N1,000 Per Bag

In a step that will make cement cheaper than it has ever been since 2005, the Group Managing Director of Dangote Cement Plc, Mr. Devakumar Edwin, said the company had pegged the Dangote 32.5 cement grade at N1,000 per 50 kg bag, while the higher 42.5 grade is to sell for N1,150 per bag. The new prices, exclusive of the Value Added Tax (VAT), represent about 40 per cent discount on the prevailing market price of the product, which currently sells for N1, 700 across the country irrespective of the grade.

Edwin said the move was in line with the company’s commitment to the nation’s dire need for the development of infrastructure and to boost the federal and state government’s ongoing effort to reduce the near 20 million housing deficit in Nigeria.

“We recognise the need for a dramatic increase in the response to the huge infrastructure and housing deficit in the country, and one of the ways of addressing the issue is bringing the price of building materials down to much more affordable levels, especially cement which is within our own control, as part of our own contribution to the transformation agenda of the Goodluck Jonathan administration and the attainment of key milestones in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs),” he said.
Dangote said in compliance with the SON standard for cement quality and packaging, the 32.5 type shelf life would be clearly labelled in order to minimise the incidence of building collapse in the nation’s building and construction industry arising from the misapplication of the different grades of cement.

The national president of the Block Moulders Association of Nigeria, Alhaji Rasidi Adebowale, said he received the news with much happiness especially considering what the price reduction held for his members in Nigeria. He expressed the hope that the new price review would translate to reduction in the price of blocks

The chairman, Coalition Against Building Collapse, Kola Ojewuyi, noted that the downward review of prices had confounded the critics of Dangote Cement who had earlier condemned the campaign embarked upon by company for the adoption of the 42.5 cement grade as a ploy to increase price of the commodity.

Source: The Leadership