Nigerians Attack Dangote After BUA Chairman’s Promise To Crash Cement Price From N5,000 To N3,000

Some Nigerians are calling out the Chairman of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, after BUA Cement Plc Chairman, Abdul Samad Rabiu promised to crash the price of cement in Nigeria to as low as N3,000.

Rabiu had on Friday said he received government backing to venture on the ambitious reduction in the price of his cement by January 2024.

He revealed that 80 per cent of the production input of Nigerian cement manufacturers are sourced locally.

Rabiu had said, “I came to intimate his Excellency (President Bola Tinubu) on the affairs of our cement business. We have two new lines of 3 million tons each that will be commissioned by the end of the year. I came to explain to him the effort that we are making in trying to support the efforts of the government in bringing down the price of cement.

“With these six million tons that we are commissioning by the end of the year or January next year, BUA Cement will be producing about 17 million tons per annum and with that we intend to bring down the price of cement from its current level of N5,000 or N5,500 per bag to maybe N3,000 to N3,500 per bag.”

Dangote Cement Plc, BUA Cement and Lafarge Africa Plc are the country’s biggest cement manufacturers but prices of cement in Nigeria are between N5,000 to N5,500 per 50kg bag.

Dangote has a production capacity of 51.6 million per annum with revenues in excess of $3.5 billion in 2022.

His revenue was up by 17.7 per cent to N950.8bn or $1.26bn (N756/USD) in the first half of 2023 as cement sales grew.

Reacting, David Offor with X handle, @DavidsOffor said, “BUA cement Chairman, Abdul Samad Rabiu says 80 per cent of raw materials used in producing cement are sourced locally and promised to reduce the price of cement to between 3000-3500. Why is Dangote selling at over N5000, is he importing his raw materials?”

Kalu Aja a financial expert said on his X handle, “When you compare Dangote Cement to Lafarge, that’s limited competition. Open up the market, if imports are cheaper, Nigerians should buy the imports and rent will fall. Win for Nigerian consumers.

“If truly local cement is cheaper, then imports will not stand a chance, right?”

Abdulzarumi said on his X handle, @abdulzarumihot1, “According to Abdul Samad Rabiu, chairman of BUA Cement, who asserts that 80% of the raw materials used in cement production are sourced domestically, cement costs would decrease to between N3,000 and N3,500. What is going to happen to Dangote cement, which sells more than N5000.”

Kingsley Ndimele, a consultant said on his X handle, @KingsNdimele that “As BUA has decided to crash the price of cement from N5,500 to N3,500, do you think more Nigerians will port from Dangote cement to BUA cement?”

Also, @abdulharande, an X user said, “But there’s market force and of course BUA Cement is good. If he will maintain the same quality with such price, consumers will go for him and of course it will affect Dangote Cement. He will be left with no option than to reduce his price too.”

Agwuna George said on his X handle, @AgwunaG, “Dangote cement being ahead in this case is inconsequential. BUA cement, according to construction companies is more preferable than Dangote cement. It’s time BUA cement takes the price leadership from Dangote Cement.”

Amazing Grace reacting to the development commented, “This is the best news I have heard so far, which will reduce the cost of building and bring competition to the market. we can’t be relying on only dangote cement and expect it to be cheap.”

Tawfeeq Jimoh commented on his X handle, @wabillah, “I pray it comes to fruition. Dangote cement annual capacity is about 30 MTA yet the price is high.”