The price of a bag of cement is expected to retail at GH¢66 from June 15, an increase of more than GH¢5, manufacturers have said.
With this increase, industry sources say customers in Accra will be the most affected as some manufacturers want to offset transportation costs to other regions.
Speaking in an interview with Joy Business, one of the manufacturers said, “we can control the factory price, but we are not sure about the retail price on the markets in other regions.”
However, “we will try our best to take some of the cost of reducing the margin of increase after the transport charges and other related costs are added to the product”.
The manufacturers have attributed the increase to many issues, most of which they have tried to manage for a long time.
They cite some issues, including the depreciation of the Ghana cedi, hikes in prices of petroleum products, and transport fares as some factors influencing the increase.
They also maintained that their situation has been compounded by supply challenges on their production inputs and difficulties importing some raw materials due to developments in Russia and Ukraine.
The manufacturers have also raised issues with some port charges, which they say leave them with no choice but to pass the cost to consumers.
Source: TheBBCghana.Com
