Cement prices fluctuates in up-country regions

The Ministry of Industry said recently that if taxes had been on imported cement, its market price would have been much higher than the locally made cement. For instance the price of 50 kg of imported cement would have been sold at Tshs. 13,400/- while the cement price from TPCC in most parts of the city of Dar es Salaam whereby it has the largest market share, stands at Tshs. 11,400/-. Between January and April 2009, a total of 49 companies imported 100,453 metric tones of cement whose value was Tshs. 10.4 billion mostly from Pakistan, India, Egypt and China. According to the Minister Mary Nagu, the local input has been doubled from mere 1.5 million metric tones to 3 million metric tones, hence there will be no need for importation of cement in the near future. According to her, the giant cement company in the country TPCC is very sustainable, but Tanga cement and Mbeya cement have very slim chances of sustainability since their scale is relatively low. The Minister is on the opinion that, having a fiscal policy will enable the companies to engage in healthy competition. In a competitive economy or free market economy has to regulate the market especially in distribution. So in a free market economy regulation can help to remove monopoly tendency in the market. The government’s move would counter what some stakeholders have described as dumping of cement as the vital construction ingredient is heavily subsidized in India, China and Pakistan where the imports are said to be originating from.





An overview of the newly established production plant N0: 4 of the Tanzania Portland Cement Company at Wazo Hill in Dar es Salaam which was expanded with a view to increase production of cement in the country.