Siam City’s Executive vice president for marketing and sales Chantana Sukumanont said  the company wants to increase its cement prices Bt300 per tonne, which is still under the ceiling allowed by the government. But she emphasised that the company would increase prices gradually.

The price of cement is currently around Bt1,900 per tonne, with the government declaring a maximum price of Bt2,200 per tonne. However, SCCC cannot increase its prices suddenly, because of the high competition in the market.

Chantana said the company had set a sales target of 12.5 million tonnes this year. In the first half, it sold 4.2Mt on the local market, down from 4.4Mt last year, while the volume of international exports was 2.5Mt, up 9 per cent on year.

Managing director Leo Mittelholzer said that in order to maintain its domestic prices, the company needed to crank its production levels to maximum capacity and increase exports. He said the country’s total domestic sales normally fall in the second half  of the year. The company thus expects to export more to Vietnam and Dubai, which are its main export destinations at present.

Mittelholzer also said the company hoped to export specialist cement products to the US this year. He added that everyone was looking forward to an improvement in the market  next year, thanks to the government’s planned mega-projects. But he said it  was still unpredictable, and the company must remain focused on margins and cost management.

SCCC has also established "EcoSiam", a new business unit dedicated to improving its competitiveness through waste-management services and increasing the volume of alternative fuels used.