July 25, 2008

India to import cement from Thailand and Pakistan

FE reported that, concerned over the rise in cement prices contributing to overall inflation, the government will shortly hold a meeting with representatives from the sector and ask them not to increase the price line. The centre will also facilitate more cement imports from countries such as Thailand and Pakistan to cater to the rising domestic demand.

Mr Kamal Nath union commerce & industry minister said that "I propose to have a meeting with the cement companies in the second week of May 2008. Cement prices have gone up by 4.4% over the whole year. This is a matter of concern. The cement industry has been citing the increase in prices of coal, transportation and fuel as the reason for the price increase. As a pre emptive step, we have made cement import duty free and we are looking at more imports from Thailand and Pakistan." He added that the government has already taken several measures to cool down inflation and it would ease in the next 3 to 4 weeks.

Official sources said that in order to meet the cement shortage, railway authorities of India and Pakistan are working on modalities to immediately increase the number of daily trains plying between both the countries from 1 to 5 to carry more cement from Pakistan to India. Cement coming by train from across the border into India is estimated to be cheaper by around INR 50 per bag.

The source added that India plans to import at least 7 million tonnes of cement in 2008-09 from Pakistan after having already brought in over 2 million tonnes already. The quantity of daily import would be close to 4,000 tonne.