The Trade Department’s consumer protection group asked cement companies over the weekend to keep prices within the reasonable level of P225 to P230 per 40-kilogram bag.
Trade Undersecretary for consumer protection Victorio Dimagiba said it would be for the benefit of consumers if prices would remain competitive.
“The data we gathered, based on price monitoring, show the prices of cement are all the same and they are all high. We have to ensure the price in certain areas is reasonable. At this time when there are a lot of imports, prices should go down,” Dimagiba said.
He said despite the optimized operations of cement factories, with 70 percent to 85 percent capacity utilization, the industry still needed to import cement to fill the huge local demand.
“We should see prices of cement in the vicinity of P225 to P230 per bag because of competition,” Dimagiba said.
The Trade Department said it saw no reason to raise prices of local cement, as it could be cheaper to import cement to augment supply.
The agency’s monitoring showed that cement prices in some areas hit as much as P250 to P260 a bag, compared to prices in Metro Manila and Metro Cebu at P220 a bag.
The department has yet to assess the reply of manufacturers and traders who were asked to explain the price discrepancy.
The consumer protection group sent letters to Holcim, Eagle Cement Corp., Lafarge Republic Inc. and Cemex Philippines to explain the prices of their brands Holcim Excel, Advance, Republic, Rizal and Apo. The letters were also sent to cement traders Bojourno Trading, Summit Koncrete Products Corp. and Cohaco Merchandising & Development Corp.
The Bureau of Import Services said cement imports reached 1.08 million metric tons so far in 2016.
Increased economic activities boosted the country’s first-quarter cement sales by 12.8 percent to 6.43 million MT from 5.7 million MT in the same period in 2015.