KARACHI, March 28: Cement makers have raised the prices by Rs10 per 50-kg bag anticipating higher demand with the start of summer season.

Citing example, dealers said that Falcon cement bag now sells at Rs425 as compared to Rs415 while the 50-kg bag of Lucky cement is now available at Rs415 as compared to Rs405.

The cement makers have not given any explanation and increased the prices unilaterally in the last two days,` dealers said.

Chairman Southern Region Association of Builders and Developers (ABAD) Salim Kassim Patel said some manufacturers had raised the prices by Rs15 per 50 kg bag in the last two weeks.

In 2010, the price of a cement bag was around Rs270, which rose to Rs365 in July 2011. He said cement manufacturers had reactivated the cartel and were producing at 60 to 70 per cent capacity to create a shortage and manipulate the prices.

`Cement prices like any other commodity cannot be increased in one-go without cartelisation. This deliberate decrease in production has resulted in multi-pronged negative effect like reduction in government revenue,` Salim said.

He added that running at 100 per cent capacity would increase the revenue generation through GST and other relevant taxes.

He recalled that the Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) had acted strongly and dealt a blow to cartelisation in cement sector some years back. The CCP had imposed heavy fines on the cement manufac-turers. It led to substantial fall in cement prices.

Meanwhile, a leading cement maker said that demand of cement had emerged since February 2012 as the government had given amnesty to builders for regularising various projects, which were held up for some kind of violation.

He said builders were now in a hurry to complete these projects in next couple of months.

Citing another reason for increased cement demand, he said the government had been trying to complete reconstruction process at the flood affected areas in Sindh before general elections.

He said in Southern Zone, demand of cement had also increased to 18,000-19,000 tons a day now as compared to 10,000-12,000 tons per day in February 2012.

ABAD Vice-Chairman Arif Siddik said the government had waived the FED on cement in the current year`s budget but the cartel did not pass on the benefit to the end user and instead increased the prices.

The prices of coal, a basic ingredient used as a fuel in cement manufacturing, in the international market remained stable around $120 which was in June 2011 at $128 per ton.

The decrease in coal prices was never reflected in decreased prices of cement.

He urged the federal government and the CCP to take notice of cement price hike issue as the housing industry was already suffering from rising building material prices like steel and other materials.