Minister for Trade and Industry calls for immediate halt on cement price increases

The Minister for Trade and Industry, Honourable K. T. Hammond, MP has directed the Cement Manufacturing Development Committee (CMDC) to instruct cement manufacturing companies in Ghana to reverse immediately the increase in cement prices recently announced in the country.

The Minister, recalling his directive to the CMDC at its inauguration on 8th March 2024, further requested the publication of the retail prices of cement by all cement manufacturers in the country in a bid to stop the continuous arbitrary increases in cement prices.

He further reiterated his call for the CMDC to work with cement companies to ensure uniform cement prices nationwide by adopting a unified cement pricing mechanism akin to the Unified Petroleum Pricing Fund (UPPF) adopted by the National Petroleum Authority for fuel retail in Ghana.

The CMDC, which was established under the Ghana Standards Authority (Manufacture of Cement) Regulations, 2023 (L| 2480), is chaired by the Director General of the Ghana Standards Authority, Prof Alex Dodoo.

It comprises representatives of cement manufacturers, the Association of Ghana Industries, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Ghanaian Institution of Engineers the Ministry of Trade and Industry and the Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation.

It is the regulator for cement manufacture in the country and is charged among other things to "promote the manufacture, wholesale and retail of cement and cement components".