Displaying items by tag: Ministry of Trade and Industry

Ghana: The Minister of Trade and Industry, Kobina Hammond, has directed cement manufacturers to secure licences or cease operations immediately, in compliance with the new Ghana Standards Authority's (GSA) Manufacture of Cement Regulation, 2023 (LI 2480). This regulation mandates re-registration and licensing of existing operations and bars unlicensed new plants. It came into law in 2024 and seeks to address consumer concerns over rising cement prices and promote quality assurance.

Director-General of the GSA, Alex Dodoo, stated that all current manufacturers are operating illegally without a licence. Dodoo said that none of the cement producers in the country had applied for a licence to operate in accordance with the law.

Ghana: Minister of Trade and Industry, K Hammond, has presented the Ghana Standards Authority (Pricing of Cement) Regulations 2024 in Parliament. This legislative instrument aims to control cement prices in response to rising costs.

The legislation follows government efforts to persuade manufacturers to reduce prices and address public concerns over escalating costs, according to the Daily Guide Network. Despite opposition from the National Democratic Congress lawmakers and cement producers, the regulation will likely become law after a 21-sitting day period in Parliament. The new law will introduce a price stabilisation fund to ensure consistent cement prices across the country.

Mr Hammond said "For a long time, we haven’t seen cement prices de-escalating. It's always escalating. I think there's something fundamentally wrong with the pricing of cement in the country.”

Egypt: The Egyptian government has reportedly proposed that cement companies cap production by at least 14%. Multiple sources quoted by Reuters reveal that a formula was discussed in April 2021 proposing that cement plants cut production by a base amount of 10.5%. An additional cut of 3.7% would then be made for each production line a plant has and another 0.65% for each year they have been in operation. However, it is unclear how the age of a plant or production line would be determined. The Ministry of Trade and Industry has not commented on the story.

The measures have been suggested in order to help the sector cope with falling consumption and production overcapacity. Cement sales fell by 5% year-on-year to 41.7Mt in 2020 from 43.8Mt in 2019. However, two of the cement executives quoted said that the proposed cuts seemed unfair on multinational companies like their own that had older plants.