The youngest Chief Executive Officer of RockCem Limited, Bilal Hajazi, has said in an exclusive interview with the Global Times yesterday that his company would gladly compete with other local cement manufacturing companies on a level playing field. โWe have a super-saturated industryโฆWe welcome a healthy competitionโฆBut no one company should have an unfair advantage over the othersโฆThat is not good for the industryโ, Mr. Hajazi warned. He called for all industry players to be given opportunities without preferential treatment.
Mr. Hijazi called on the Ministry of Trade and Industry to ensure full compliance with unit floor price agreed by all importers and/or manufacturers. โWe cannot agree on a floor price and someone unilaterally decides to sell below that floor priceโฆThat will amount to unfair competitionโ, Mr. Hajazi fumed.
The RockCem CEO expressed fear that lowering the barriers for new entrants into the industry will certainly undermine fair competition. He suggested a moratorium to be placed on the registration of new entrants to avoid what he called โsuper-saturationโ of the industry.
Mr. Hijazi assured that there was enough cement in the market. He disclosed that by the end of the year (2026), his company would be able to produce 60,000 bags of high grade cement a day. โThis is phenomenalโ, he nodded.
Meanwhile, one of the local cement manufacturing companies, SOL Co. (SL) Limited, has been accused by several importers of unfair market practices, by undermining the unit floor price of cement. SOL Co. sells a bag of cement far below the unit floor price agreed with the Ministry of Trade and Industry. This worrisome development has been brought to the attention of the Ministry of Trade and Industry.
SOL Co. (SL) Limited have a private jetty at Kent, where their vessels discharge goods loaded onto tug boats and ferried to their main warehouses at Benguima. The company does not pay port charges, thus giving them undue advantage to be able to manipulate the market.
A spokesman for the Ministry of Trade and Industry told the Global Times last night that allegations of unfair competition in the cement industry were being taken seriously. He did not elaborate.
Investigations continue.
