Indian cement companies are experiencing challenging market conditions as subdued demand during the peak season is preventing producers from raising prices.
Speaking to local press, M Ravinder Reddy, head of marketing for Vicat Group in India and director of marketing at Bharathi cement, said: “The primary reason, I’m told, is that the government has stopped payments to control fiscal deficit, as a result of which infra projects have taken a beating. The retail end also hasn’t grown due to drop in consumption. The year-on-year sales for the industry decline for March could be 4-5 per cent,” he said.
While firms have hiked prices in February, prices could not be raised further in March and the nationwide average has been flat month-on-month.
