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'Exceptional rise in local demand behind increase in cement prices'

AMMAN - Lafarge-Jordan Cement expects prices to ease soon after an unprecedented increase caused by exceptional rise in the local demand.

"Higher demand, and not low supply, was behind the recent rise in the prices of cement," Lafarge-Jordan Cement Chief Executive Officer Salem Sousou said Tuesday.

During a press briefing to launch the company's new branding and logo concept, he told reporters that Lafarge Jordanian Cement has already shifted a quantity destined for export to the local market to meet the increase in demand.

He did not specify the quantity, but said: "We are ready to import cement if the demand remains high, although such action is not in our interest from a financial point of view."

According to construction contractors, there is still shortage of cement in the local market to the extent that work has stopped in some projects.

The market price of cement remains at JD108-110 per tonne, when it should be JD82-85 per tonne, according to George Nimri, a contractor from Irbid.

The local demand stands at 17,000 tonnes per day, Sousou said, adding: "Yesterday, the company produced 18,000 tonnes all of which went for the local market."

He described such increase in demand as "unprecedented".

As part of its preparations to face the upcoming competition from other manufacturers, Jordan Cement Factories Company (JCFC) changed its brand on Tuesday to "Lafarge-Jordan Cement". The French giant, Lafarge Group, owns more than 50 per cent of the company.

"We want to combine the strengths of Lafarge Group with those accumulated within the old Jordan Cement Company for the past 50 years, to produce new identity under Lafarge," he explained.

Expecting the competition to start by the end of the year, he said: "We are still the sole producer for all types of cement in the Kingdom."

"Under this new identity, the company will ensure excellence and leading position in the market and will remain the best choice for competence and for the clients," the company said following the launching of its new name and logo.

Lafarge Jordanian Cement employs more than 1,200 Jordanians, according to Sousou who stressed that "out of total manpower in the company only four are foreigners".

Asked about the impact of the global financial crisis on the Lafarge Group, Sousou said: "60 per cent of our operations is in the developing markets while 40 per cent are in the developed ones."

By Khalid Neimat

© Jordan Times 2009