The Chairman of BUA Group, Abdul-Samad Rabiu, said the company will drop its cement price to prevent the government from approving the importation of the product into Nigeria.
Rabiu said this amid criticism trailing the price of locally produced cement in the country, which forced Dangote Cement to explain why its products are priced at a specific rate.
The founder of BUA Cement said the company will increase its production lines in order to drop the price of its products, as the importation of cement won’t be good for the country.
BUA Cement plans to increase production capacity by at least 40 per cent to 70 million tons before the year runs out according to Rabiu during the Annual General Meeting of BUA Cement on Thursday.
Rabius said: “By the end of the year, we intend to have two more production lines on stream, which will boost our production capacity by at least 40 per cent to 70 million tons.
“The idea of increasing production capacity is to see how we can be able to drop prices on our part to support the government’s efforts because importation will not be the best solution.
“The average price of cement in Nigeria is N4,500, which translates into N90,000 per ton or $100. So if the government threatens to start importing cement, it will even cost them more because the forex is now high and when you bring it through the ports, you must pay taxes, trucking and other levies which will add to the price.”
Meanwhile, BUA Cement has offered its shareholders a dividend of N2.80 kobo per share for the period of 2022, up from N2.60 kobo paid out the year before.