Lebanon-based Cimenterie Nationale has announced it will stop deliveries temporarily on 6 March due to the depletion of its stock.

According to L’Orient-Le Jour, the cement producer’s decision is the result of the sector’s chaotic management and a lack of a long-term plan. Since the end of October, and after two exceptional exemptions, cement companies no longer have access to their quarries and their activity is limited to grinding and converting previously-extracted rocks into cement.

Moreover, as raw materials have been exhausted, the resale price has surged to around LBP1.25m/t (US$0.46m/t) while the official price is set at LBP240,000 (excluding VAT). To encourage a rapid fall in selling prices, the Ministry of Industry authorised cement imports in mid-February.