The price of a 50kg bag of cement is now above GH¢80.00, as the input costs of the manufacturers rise due to the depreciation of the Ghana cedi.
Some retailers of GHACEM, Diamond and Dangote cement vary the price of a bag of the product from GH¢77.00 to GH¢85.00 but the price of Dzata cement is a little cheaper.
The increase in the price of cement will go a long way to affect construction.
A Joy News report sighted attributed the current increase in price to the depreciation of the Ghana cedi against the US dollar.
“Some of the materials used in producing the cement are imported, hence the increasing cost of operations.
“When the factory price (wholesale price) of a 50 kilogramme of a bag of cement was about ¢59.00, it was based on an exchange rate of about ¢7.60 in June 2022,” the report stated.
Some of the manufacturers indicated in the report that “it has been very difficult to absorb all the rising costs of operations, and therefore there is the need to share some of the burden with consumers.”