SANTO DOMINGO.- Three increases in the same year that add up to between 20 and 25% in the price of a product is "abusive," says Melchor Alcántara, coordinator of the National Observatory of the Construction Industry (ONIC), referring to the increase registered last week in the price of cement.
“It went up in January, and again in June, so a price increase of 20 or 25% in a year is excessive. This is definitely affecting the construction sector because the prices of affordable housing are going to skyrocket,” the economist said.
The construction businessman also said he hopes that Pro Consumidor will act with the same enthusiasm it has shown with real estate price increase contracts, "that it will assist the cement companies and make them justify those prices and find a way to level them," after assuring that "in reality all this is going to represent a significant increase in the rise of housing, which is already showing an increase that I think cannot withstand much more.".
Alcántara argued that there is no visible reason to justify the increase in the price of cement and that, on the contrary, all its inputs are decreasing, citing the case of fuels and maritime freight.
"The only possible reason could be the rise in fuel costs for cement manufacturing, mineral coal or coke, which is the energy source to power the kilns that heat the raw material to produce clinker, and in the last price increase, we were given the explanation that this product had been the cause of the rise in the price of cement.".
He adds that “now all commodities are showing a downward trend and at the same time the transport of maritime freight, which was also an important issue at that time, is showing a trend, a collapse where prices have even fallen below the lows of 2019.”.
Alcántara explains that there is also no perceived increase in demand for cement, after arguing that the system for setting prices for these products in the national market must be reviewed, given that cement in particular is handled by six companies and that it has been showing a systematic increase since the post-pandemic stage.
He understands that there were times when there were apparent justifications, "but now we see that it is not so, there has been no devaluation, nor an increase in demand, there is a collapse in commodity prices, in maritime freight, oil is being sold 50 pesos below the price it had six months ago, so it is really not justified.".
He considers it worrying that the six cement companies operating in the country unify prices, regardless of their quality and production conditions, which he understands "is a bad indicator because that obviously tells you that there are agreements in order to set prices together that have to be assumed and "nobody intervenes in this regard, these prices are imposed, even though there is no apparent justification," said the ONIC coordinator.
