Ensure uniform cement prices nationwide – Trade Minister charges committee

The Minister of Trade and Industry, K. T. Hammond, has directed the newly constituted Cement Manufacturing Development Committee to ensure uniformity in cement prices across the country.

According to Mr. Hammond, the need for a similar pricing structure in the cement industry will promote price stability and uniformity.

The minister compared the cement and petroleum retail sectors, where he underscored the uniformity of pump prices of fuel across the country to the inconsistencies recorded in the cement industry.

He also emphasized the need for retail prices to be reasonably close to factory prices, urging against significant markups.

The minister gave the directives on March 8, when he swore in members of the newly established Cement Manufacturing Development Committee, which is now responsible for the regulation of the cement industry.

Mr. Hammond, in an interview with the media, said that legislative measures were put in place to regulate the industry as a result of the challenges associated with quality and standards within the manufacturing sector.

“This legislation paved the way for the establishment of the committee to oversee pricing practices and ensure compliance with set standards,” he said.

The industry had operated without regulatory oversight over the years.

The committee was established under the Ghana Standards Authority (Manufacture of Cement) Regulations, 2023 (LI 2480), which mandates the establishment of a nine-member committee to oversee the development and growth of the local manufacture of cement and to monitor and coordinate activities in the manufacture of cement in line with the stipulations of the legislative instrument.

The committee is chaired by the Director-General of the Ghana Standards Authority (GSA), Professor Alex Dodoo. The nine-member committee also includes Francis Kojo Eshun from the GSA.

The rest are Kofi Addo of the Ministry of Trade and Industry, Gyimah Mohammed of the Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology, and Innovation, Saeed Foroco of the Environmental Protection Agency, and Ebenezer Kwesi Haizel of the Ghana Institution of Engineering.

The committee also has Dr. Frank Huber representing the Association of Ghana Industries, Bishop Dr. George Dawson Amoah from the Chamber of Cement Manufacturers of Ghana, and Dr. Mark Bediako, an expert in cement, nominated by the minister.