By Madiba Singhateh
Cement Companies in the Gambia, have denied having any hand in the price hike of cement in the market. Both Gacem/Salam Companies express surprise on the exorbitant price of cement at the market; that they are surprised at the price. The Human Resource Manager at Gacem cement Company Betty Njie, reiterated that they are selling cement for D260 from their outlets and does not understand the reason why they’re selling cement at their own exorbitant price tag.
Njie further added that after calculating all the inputs up to the point of sale, retailers should not sell at such exorbitant price.
Ida Jaiteh, Sales Manager for the same Company said they imported more than 17 tons of cement for the past two weeks; that three Companies are importing cement in the country. She said the reason why the price is high is because one of importer’s consignment has still not arrived; that ‘Jah’s consignment has not arrived and this has led to scarcity resulting in the high price of cement; that Jah’s customers come to them for their cement needs. Jaiteh said they control a good percentage of the country’s market. Jaiteh said the other reason for the scarcity is that both Companies, Gacem and Jah, have the same type of cement.
Ebrima Sinera the Supervisor said cement at Gacem is sold for D250 and they have no hand in the exorbitant price tag of cement in the market; that all they know is cement is available and should not be sold for such a price; that there needs to be some form of control at the market.
It could be recalled that since last month, cement prices have increased at the market. Many vendors sell the commodity between D300 to D320 per bag.
Vendors use the strategy of reducing the price for buyers, depending on how much quantity the person want to buy.
