The Indian cement industry, which has been suffering from price pressures during the monsoon season, has raised raised prices across the country from 1 October by INR5-10/bag.

A senior member of the Cement Stockists and Dealers Association in Mumbai said: “Cement prices in Mumbai have risen by INR5, while the rest of Maharashtra and Gujarat witnessed a rise of INR10 per 50kg bag.”

Prices in the Mumbai market have risen to INR276/bag for wholesale while retail prices are INR280-282/bag.

“Prices across the country increased by INR10, but southern region has not been able to take much advantage of it as there was hardly any fall during the monsoon. So the price rise is not expected much in Chennai and near by region,” said a senior analyst from a domestic brokerage firm.

In Kolkata too, prices increased by INR10/bag to INR300/bag retail and for wholesale buyers prices are in the range of INR295-296/50kg bag.

“Prices in Delhi have increased to INR270 and in Uttar Pradesh to INR290 from earlier INR280 in the wholesale segment. In the central region too prices have increased to INR280 per bag. We expect production cut again to make up for margins for the third quarter. This quarter, manufacturers would not be able to put up better numbers as prices had come down during monsoon and so did the sales,” one analyst said.