TCL blames increasing cost of raw material: Cement prices set to rise

Published: Friday August 8, 2008

T&T’s sole cement producer, Trinidad Cement Limited (TCL), said yesterday that substantial increases in the cost of raw materials had forced the company to increase the price of cement for the second time this year.

On Wednesday TCL informed local contractors that they would have to pay 6 1/2 per cent more for cement from September 1, an increase the company described as “minimal.”

The price to the export market will increase by 12 per cent.

TCL said these increases had become necessary “as a result of substantial increases in input costs, specifically related to raw materials, spares, fuel and freight.”

In a statement, the company added that the price of clinker, a key ingredient in the manufacture of cement, had increased by 22 per cent over the past year, “reflecting increased energy prices of approximately 50 per cent, spares such as steel balls and chains by 37 per cent and 20 per cent respectively, and freight on the importation of major raw materials by on average 32 per cent. These current global construction price pressures coupled with inflationary trends have placed additional challenges on the local construction industry.”

TCL said that it had been absorbing the increases for some time in an effort to minimise the impact on consumers.

TCL said it had increased prices by 8.5 per cent in February this year and had improved the efficiency of its operations but despite these measures it could no longer afford to continue to cushion consumers from the increased costs it was facing.

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Source: Trinidad Guradian Newspapers
http://www.guardian.co.tt/business3.html