Nigerian govt summons Dangote, BUA, others over high cost of cement

The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) says it has issued a summons to major cement manufacturers in the country as part of probes in the industry to determine why the retail price of the product is way higher than what obtains in other Africans countries.

Three companies account for more than 90 per cent of Nigeria’s cement production. They are: Dangote Cement Plc, HMB Nigeria Plc, formerly known as Lafarge Africa Plc. and BUA Cement Plc.

The FCCPC said the probe followed an extensive industry-wide investigation that suggested possible manipulation of product prices in the Nigerian market.

The FCCPC stated that findings from a three-month cross-border study by its Anti-competitive Practices Department (ACP), undertaken in response to widespread public complaints over the high cost of cement, provided reasonable ground for probe of the cement manufacturers.

According to the commission, subsequent to the findings, it has issued “Notices of Commencement of Investigation and Summons to Producer” to the key players in the sector.

With the summon, the companies are required to provide information and records relating to, among other matters, their pricing methodologies, production and capacity utilisation, exports and relevant commercial relationships.

FCCPC stated that its actions were sequel to concerns raised over the comparatively high retail price of cement in the local market compared with other markets, despite the country’s substantial limestone deposits, significant domestic production capacity and reported surplus installed capacity relative to domestic consumption.

The commission explained that, beyond Nigeria, its investigations extended to markets in sub-Saharan Africa like Kenya, Tanzania and South Africa as well as Egypt, Morocco and Algeria, using metrics…