South Indian Cement Manufacturers Association (SICMA) has assured the state government to contain cost of cement. They also sought the government’s support to tide over the coal shortages that is affecting the operations and resulting in higher cost of operations.
The assurance comes in the wake of reports over an unprecedented spike in the cost of various construction materials including cement in the past two years and adversely impacting individual builders and developers.
Earlier on Friday, SICMA representatives including Ramco Cements, India Cements and others met state industries minister Thangam Thennarasu. In a statement, SICMA president N Srinivasan said there has been a steep increase in the cost of every input material for cement, particularly coal.
“In spite of the commodity prices having spiked and the Ukraine crisis affecting petroleum products, transport costs and packing materials, the industry will strive to contain costs,” he said.
Compared to prices that were prevailing one year ago, the wholesale price index of cement shows a decline of 3%, he added.
In an earlier statement, SICMA had highlighted that Tamil Nadu is being totally deprived of domestic coal from Singareni or western coalfields and hence is dependent on imported coal for both fuel and power.
While the cost of imported coal has gone up 4-5 times in the past few months, the ongoing war has made coal availability becoming scarce.
New coal consignments are not only costlier but also hard to source, the statement said, urging the government to find ways to help the industry.