TN cement cos agree to consider price cut
Business Standard, 08-01-08

State government warning to take over factories works.

Private cement companies in Tamil Nadu are set to go into a huddle to discuss a possible reduction in prices.

This comes in the wake of the state government’s warning last week that their factories in the state would be taken over if they did not lower the prices immediately.

The companies are expected to discuss the proposed reduction in prices before January 10. The existing retail price of cement in the state is about Rs 240 a bag.

The managing director of India Cements, N Srinivasan, who today met Chief Minister M Karunanidhi on behalf of private cement manufacturers, assured the industry would come out with a positive decision.

The state government had issued the takeover warning on January 2. The announcement came on the back of soaring cement prices and allegations of cartelisation by private cement companies over the last few months.

The government had also decided that the Tamil Nadu Cements Corporation (Tancem) would import 100,000 tonnes of cement through the central government’s Metals and Minerals Trading Corporation and distribute it through the state civil supplies corporation.

“If private cement companies don’t come forward to reduce prices, the government will be left with no option but to take over the cement factories in the state in public interest,” it said.

The construction industry and political parties had flayed the state government for not taking steps to check the rising cement prices. The shortage of cement in the state is affecting construction activities of the government and public.

The imported cement would be stocked in over 200 godowns of the corporation and sold to the public at cost price.

A decision was also taken to expedite the process of importing cement directly through global tenders by Tancem.