Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Otunba Richard Adebayo has told Nigerians that the ministry’s engagement with relevant stakeholders in the cement industry is being ramped up to meet the increased demand of the commodity amid fears of price increase.
Adebayo in a statement emanating from the Office of the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr. Sani Gwarzo urged the public not to embark on panic buying and storage of the product as the cement market price is temporary.
TheFact Nigeria reports that the federal government’s decision to alert the public may not be unconnected with the recent price increase of the products in some parts of the country.
Adebayo said: “The ministry has been working assiduously to engage all the relevant stakeholders in the cement manufacturing sector to address the lingering situation.
“The ministry further noted that there has been a massive build up of demand from public works contractors as they strive to meet milestones and deadlines on projects across the country.
“The ministry also lamented that there was a reduction in production volumes in the 2nd and 3rd quarters of 2020 as a result of the covid 19 pandemic. End-SARS protests as well as downtimes in some manufacturing plants which affected the volume of stock levels in the supply chain due to reduction of cash flow of major distributors and high cost of transportation.”
He assured that government will continue to be on the alert to its responsibility of ensuring that goods and services are available at reasonable prices.
He also promised that the ministry will continue to monitor the situation, and also encouraged them to support market intelligence efforts by making relevant information available on the product.
