Photo shows CMS’ new integrated cement and grinding facility in Mambong launched in November last year.
KUCHING: CMS Cement Sdn Bhd (CMS Cement) yesterday moved to instil confidence in the property development and infrastructure market in the State by refuting market rumours of a cement price hike.
Speaking about the rumours of a nationwide cement price hike, Dato Richard Curtis, group managing director of Cahya Mata Sarawak Bhd (CMSB), parent company of CMS Cement affirmed that the group has no plans to increase prices.
“Whenever there is pressure on the financial markets, rumours of price hikes in all materials surface. I am happy to record that CMS Cement has absolutely no plans to increase prices,” Curtis said in a statement yesterday.
“Due to CMS Cement’s foresight, forward planning and management, we were more than ready to deal with these challenging times, without passing the increased cost of doing business down to our customers.”
The group last raised cement prices in December 2015 by 4.6 per cent, citing the depreciation of the ringgit as the main cause of the hike as over 60 per cent of key raw materials used to make cement are sourced in US dollars.
Curtis went on to highlight that over the last year, CMS Cement has worked tirelessly to increase its clinker production facility’s efficiency and the company has pre-emptively negotiated new more favourable rates for raw materials.
“These advanced planning steps, combined with our new integrated cement and grinding facility coming online in Mambong, means that despite increased costs, of doing business, we can effectively continue to support the growth and development in Sarawak by not having to increase our prices,” he said.
CMS Cement’s third plant in Mambong increases the company’s total annual rated cement production capacity by almost 60 per cent to 2.75 million metric tonnes (MT), well above current local demand of around 1.7 million MT, enabling it to meet growing cement demand in Sarawak, including for big projects such as the Baleh dam and the Pan Borneo Highway.
He concluded that this positive planning by CMS Cement to ensure a reliable supply of quality cement is indicative of the company’s sound business practices, and is yet another example of the company’s unwavering commitment to Sarawak and its sustained economic growth.