MARKET SURVEY: Where is BUA N3,500 cement?

Nigerians welcomed the news of the slashing of BUA cement to N3,500 with excitement, however, findings by Ripples Nigeria have shown that the product is largely unavailable and in the few places it is available, it is sold for much higher than the advertised price and only available in a handful of places.

Checks conducted at several cement dealers’ warehouses and shops reveal the unavailability of the product or a higher price than the advertised price at the few shops that have it in stock.

According to Mrs Dupe Sanni at Marshad Supply, a dealer in Cement and building materials at Oke Agbe Estate, Ikeja, Lagos Nigeria, BUA Cement is unavailable and she hasn’t received a single stock since the alleged price slash began.

She disclosed that if she has the stock, it goes for about N5,400 per bag emphasizing that nobody sells at the N3,500 price.

The story Is not different in Ejigbo/Ikotun. BUA is unavailable however findings from the Ikorodu area reveal that the product is scarce, but where available it’s selling for N5,400.

Similarly, at no fewer than 10 different cement shops in Alagbado, Abule-Egba areas of Lagos State and Sango-Otta in Ogun State. the response is the same, they do not have the product in stock.

The story is not different at Vicagu Nigeria Limited located at Egun Street Owode Market, Owode, Ogun State.

READ ALSO:BUA Cement to drop cement price, offers shareholders N2.80kobo per share dividend

In Aba, Abia State according to investigations by our correspondent, the product is scarce and in the few places where it can be found, it goes for N5,500 a far cry from the advertised N3,500 per bag.

In Enugu State, retailers disclosed that the product is scarce. In the few shops visited, it was not available.

“It can only be found at some warehouses where it is sold for N5,000. But retailers sell for N5,200. The whole price reduction story was was a lie. It was never sold for N3,500 as claimed”, a retailer told our correspondent.

He added, “Products such as Supaset and Unicem are what you can find everywhere now and they also sell for N5,200”.

In some parts of Abuja, BUA cement is also scarce. But sellers disclosed that the few times that product is available it goes for about N4,700 while Dangote is going for N4,600

Further investigation shows that in Jos, BUA cement is nowhere to be found. The retailer alleged that it was probably a gimmick targeted at another rival.

However, our correspondent confirmed the product’s availability in Mazamaza, Lagos State while it is nowhere to be found in Mbaise, Imo State.

Checks by Ripples Nigeria show that due to logistic problems, the company might find it difficult to achieve the price of N3,500 it advertised.

Also, the company only has its plants in both Sokoto and Okpella, and for the cement to be transported to a place like Lagos or the East for instance it will require an additional transport cost of a minimum of N1,300-1,600 per bag.

All efforts to get a response from the company failed to yield any results as repeated calls and messages to Tim Sogbeinde, Head Creatives & Visual Identity Management, who’s standing in for the company’s spokesperson went unanswered.

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