KARACHI: Retailers are charging five to 10 rupees more on different brands of cement, blaming manufacturers for pushing up the rate.

Falcon Cement, which was earlier available at Rs535 per 50kg bag, is now available Rs540-545. Some retailers are even charging Rs550 for Falcon Cement.

They said the makers of Lucky Cement have also raised the price in the last one month and its bag is now available at Rs530-540.

A retailer in Gulshan-i-Iqbal said that irrespective of price increase by the manufacturers, most of retailers keep a margin of Rs20 per bag (Rs10 as labour charges and Rs10 as profit per bag).

Retailers usually charge different prices in different localities, even if maximum retail price (MRP) is mentioned on the cement bag. Some retailers, depending on bulk orders, offer Rs5 per bag discount to buyers.

Cement prices have been under pressure since June 2013 when it was available at Rs460 per 50kg bag. Prices were increased to Rs480-490 in July 2013 after change in the sales tax regime in the 2013-14 budget.

A spokesperson for Lucky Cement rejected the stance that they have pushed up prices in the last one month.

He told Dawn on Monday that there was different maximum retail price (MRP) on different brands of Lucky Cement. At the time of changes in the pricing, the existing stock is first utilised and then new MRP printed on new bags.

When asked about dealers’ claim about shortage of Lucky cement, the spokesperson said that there is no shortage.

“Our plant is producing on usual capacity and dispatches are normal,” he said.

Cement sales in Northern region in August 2014 rose to 1.66 million tonnes as compared to 1.42 million tonnes in July 2014 while in Southern region, sales stood at 300,271 tonnes as compared to 308,888 tonnes in July 2014.

Published in Dawn, September 16th, 2014