An attempt by the Ministry of Trade and Industry to control the price of cement in Ghana has faced a temporary setback as the sector Minister, Kobina Tahiru “KT” Hammond (MP, Adansi/Asokwa) was made to engage the parliamentary committee on Subsidiary Legislation to iron out concerns arising out of the government’s proposed law in a ‘pre-laying’ formality before the minister can submit the Legislative Instrument (LI). The proposed LI is the Ghana Standards Authority (Pricing of Cement) Regulations, 2024 which seeks to introduce a ceiling for setting the retail price of cement. According to Mr. Hammond, the measure is to ensure that Ghanaian home builders are not fleeced by cement manufacturers.
“But you would also realise that for the long time you’d never see cement prices de-escalating, it’s always escalating it’s always going up through the ceiling, through the roof and towards the skies. Somehow something has to be done about this. At a point in time, we were not producing so much cement in the country. Now we have an installed capacity of over 11 million tonnes in the country our demand is nothing like 11 million, so it must be a very profitable enterprise.
“But I think it behooves on those in responsible positions in authority to ensure that the good people of Ghana are not fleeced. I am not comfortable, I don’t believe that we’re getting good prices for all that it’s worth. I think there is something fundamentally wrong with the pricing of our cement in the country,” he said.
However, despite the threat by the government to regulate cement prices, cement manufacturers had indicated prices will further increase by GH¢12 effective Monday, July 1. According to former vice chair of the Ghana Real Estate Developers Association, Dr. Stephen Debra-Ablormeti, cement prices had already gone up by GH¢10 in May. Speaking to an Accra-based Joy FM last Friday, he was informed by cement manufacturers of the price increases on July 1.
“As of this morning, we got text message from the cement manufacturers that effective 1st of July, they are increasing it again by 12 cedis. Now the truth of the matter is that if you are on a project that it takes you 24 months to develop, given the fact that cement contributes to about 70% of the building component, because once the price of cement is increased, the price of block is increased, price of concrete is increased, price of plastering materials are all increased because it is the same ingredient that affects them in terms of their components.”
This is not the first time that KT Hammond has had a run-in with cement manufacturers in the country as he encountered similar resistance from producers when he submitted the Ghana Standards Authority (Manufacture of Cement) Regulations, 2023 (LI 2480) which came into force on 22nd December, 2023. The purpose of LI 2480, among others, provides for the registration and licencing of manufacturers of cement and components of cement; establish and enforce measures that govern the operations of cement manufacturing entities.”
The minister believes that there ought to be some sanity in the cement industry as cement has become an important commodity in the country just as petroleum products are but it is controlled by a select few in the cement sub-sector who charge arbitrary prices. He was of the view that the Constitution of Ghana empowers him as sector minister to apply force if moral persuasion failed because since coming into force of LI 2480, he has encouraged cement manufacturers through the Cement Manufacturing Development Committee to publish their prices weekly or monthly if need be but that called was unheeded to by the manufacturers.