Cement prices in the Philippines are among the highest in East Asia, Board of Investments (BoI) data showed, Realty Plus reported.

The data were made public late on Friday, a week after the 2010 Investment Priorities Plan (IPP) was unveiled with provisions granting incentives to new entrants into the cement industry which the state agency said would encourage competition and thus bring down prices.

Cement here costs roughly US$4.56/40kg bag as of January 2010, higher than the US$3.63 average for nine countries in the region, according to BoI estimates.

Indonesia has the most expensive cement at US$4.62/bag, followed by the Philippines, whose average price is nearly the same as that in Japan.

The three are trailed by Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand, South Korea, Vietnam and China.

Among its Southeast Asian neighbors, the Philippines’ cement prices are two-thirds more than Vietnam’s, a fifth more than Malaysia’s, and roughly 40 per cent higher than Thailand’s.