Dangote Clarifies Allegation Of Low Price Of Cement In Benin Republic

Dangote Cement has clarified the allegation that it is selling a bag of 50kg cement to Nigerians at an exploitative rate of N5,200 while it sells the same quantity of cement at N1,500 in the Republic of Benin was not true.

Investigation in Cotonou at the weekend revealed that Dangote Cement was not on sale in Cotonou or anywhere in the Republic of Benin. While Dangote does not officially export cement to Benin Republic, it only uses the country as its transit route to export cement to Togo.

It was discovered that the average price of 50kg (32.5r) bag of cement in the Benin Republic was N6,216, which was about 4,200 Cefa).

The two strongest determinants of the price of cement in the Republic of Benin, according to THISDAY’s findings, were the fixing of cement’s price by the country’s government to ensure stability and the imposition of about 51 per cent duty and other taxes on imported cement to discourage importation of the commodity and encourage local production of cement.

An online publication had published a story on August 27, 2023, in which it had stated that, “Nigerians have taken to social media to call out billionaire Aliko Dangote for selling his bag of cement for N5,200 in his own country but selling at N1,500 in Benin Republic.”

However, a Cotonou-based chief executive officer of Marketing Challenge Agency (MCA), Mr. Dia Ibrahim Kola said that the government of the Republic of Benin was striving to maintain a stable price of cement in the country through a price regulation regime instead of subsidising its supply.

He said the country’s policy was to discourage importation of cement and encourage its local production with high import duty and taxes for cements that do not qualify under the ECOWAS Trade Liberalisation Scheme (ETLS).

“We have about four cement manufacturers, including Lafarge and others. The government has a fixed price and often sends a taskforce to monitor compliance, especially in Cotonou.

“But it is important to emphasise that the government does not subsidise the price of cement in Benin.

There was a period of high scarcity that the price went up to CFA 100,000 per tonne, which forced the government to intervene to stabilise the market,” he said.

However, the management of Dangote Cement clarified that the price of a bag of cement from its factories across Nigeria as at August 28, 2023, was N4,010 (about 2,730 Cefa) in Okpella and N4,640 (about 3,135 Cefa) in Ibese, Objana, and Gboko. It added that transportation costs and the location of delivery, might cause the prices to hover between N5,000 and N5,300 per bag 50kg.

Group managing director of Dangote Cement, Mr. Arvind Pathak, advised that, it was important to distinguish Dangote Cement’s ex-factory prices from prices at which retailers sell cement in the market.

Pathak said Dangote Cement was focused on delivering quality cement at the best price possible, despite the current inflationary environment.

“We continue to innovate new ways to deliver quality products to millions of our customers across Africa, while providing top-notch customer services. At Dangote Cement, we are committed to building an inclusive and sustainable business for all stakeholders across the value chain,” he said.