By Miriam Humbe
The Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, (FMITI) through the Minister, Otunba Richard Adebayo has cautioned the public against panic buying of cement due to the recent price increase of products in some parts of the country.
The ministry said it has been working assiduously to engage all the relevant stakeholders in the cement manufacturing sector to address the lingering situation.
A statement from the Office of the Permanent Secretary, (FMITI), quoted the Minister as saying that the ministry further noted a massive build up of demand from public works contractors as they strive to meet milestones and deadlines on projects across the country.
He said: “The ministry also lamented that there was a reduction in production volumes in the 2nd and 3rdquarters of 2020 as a result of the covid 19 pandemic. End-SARS protests as well as downtimes in some manufacturing plants which affected the volume of stock levels in the supply chain due to reduction of cash flow of major distributors and high cost of transportation.
“The ministry’s engagement with relevant stakeholders in the cement industry is being ramped up to meet the increased demand of the commodity hence he urged the public not to embark on panic buying and storage of the product as the cement market price is temporary”.
He assured that government will continue to be on the alert to its responsibility of ensuring that goods and services are available at reasonable prices, and stressed that the ministry will continue to monitor the situation, and also encouraged the public to support market intelligence efforts by making relevant information available on the product.
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