Industries Minister Thangam Thennarasu held discussions with cement and steel manufacturers on Friday regarding the rising costs of raw material.

“The meeting was about high price and there were discussions on whether the price can be reduced by the manufacturers,” said a source who attended the meeting. “No concrete decision was arrived at the meeting. The government shared views while the industry expressed its challenges,” the source said.

SICMA denies price rise

After the meeting, the South Indian Cement Manufacturers’ Association ( SICMA) issued a statement which said that there was a misconception propagated by some interested quarters that cement prices had risen abnormally. The SICMA said that average cement price for current financial year was lower than that of last financial year.

According to SICMA, input costs of cement had increased and Tamil Nadu being totally deprived of domestic coal was dependent on imported coal for both fuel and power. And the cost of imported coal had gone up by four or five times in the last few months. With the ongoing war and availability of coal becoming scarce, the prices were heading northwards. The SICMA said new coal consignments were not only costlier but also hard to get.

In addition, the cost of power had impacted cement production cost by ₹175 per tonne. The price of HDPE bags had gone up by ₹80 per tonne. The industry was also feeling the pinch of high transport cost.

Officials from the steel industry could not be reached for their comments.