CMS Cement clears air over price debate, says no price hike (2852)

KUALA LUMPUR: Sarawak's sole cement producer and manufacturer CMS Cement Sdn Bhd had on Friday sought to clear the air over the price debate and again maintained that it would not increase its prices.
Its chief executive officer Othman Abdul Rani
said on Friday the company had always remained committed to the
socio-economic growth of the state and "to facilitate this, we will not
be increasing our prices".
Othman said the price rise debate was
not the only misconception which the industry faced, but there were
reports of rumours of production and distribution manipulation,
monopolisation and shortages.
In a statement released after a
media briefing in Kuching, he said CMS Cement's production capacity was
5,500 tonnes per day and it distributed 5,300 tonnes per day, depending
on the demand.
To recap, last week, the cement industry was in
focus on speculation that cement companies in Malaysia would be
increasing their prices.
There are six cement producers in Malaysia, namely YTL Cement Bhd, Tasek Corp Bhd, Cement Industries of Malaysia Bhd, Lafarge, CMS Cement and Holcim (M) Sdn Bhd.
All
local cement manufacturers, except CMS, decided to raise their prices
of the building material, mirroring an earlier move by the country's
largest producer, Lafarge Malayan Cement Bhd. Lafarge hiked up its prices by 6% on Wednesday while CMS Cement had categorically stated it would not increase prices.
Also
in a move to quash such speculation, he said on Friday: "CMS Cement has
a capacity to produce 5,500 metric tonnes per day and we distribute
5,300 metric tonnes per day as per the demand."
Othman said the output could change, depending on external factors such as interruption in production.
He
cited a few weeks ago about a delay in the delivery of raw materials
from Vietnam and Thailand due to bad weather and CMS Cement imported
cement to relieve the constraints.
On the question of
monopolisation, he said Sarawak had no restrictions and anyone could
enter the market and produce, manufacture or import cement.