JEDDAH: The Ministry of Trade and Industry stepped in to set the price of a bag of cement at SR14 this week as purchasers across the city accused manufacturers and suppliers of deliberately pushing prices up. A ministry official said that inspectors were sent out to “force all outlets to heed the ministry pricings”. “Any infringements will be punished accordingly,” the official said. He added that “large amounts” of cement were expected to arrive in Jeddah “in the coming hours” and said that “the sale of the materials will be conducted under the monitoring of ministry inspectors”. Police were required to bring calm to Jeddah's cement market on Bin Ladin Street Monday as heated arguments broke out between buyers and sellers over price rises induced by the short supply of cement across the region. The price of a single bag of cement, after the Ministry of Trade had set it at SR14, had risen to SR17, provoking the ire of consumers who blamed a failure on the part of the authorities to control prices. Purchasers at the site, according to Al-Madina Arabic daily, said that cement companies were deliberately reducing the quantity of material available on the market in a bid to push prices up, and that a scarcity across the western region had led to sellers heading for the Jeddah marketplace to “make the most of the opportunity”. Abdullah Al-Ghamdi said that he had gone to the market over the previous two days with the intention of purchasing the 1,000 bags of cement he requires for building work on a private house. “I was surprised to find Sunday that they were charging 18 riyals for a single bag, and on Monday Ministry of Trade inspectors turned up and set the price at 14 riyals,” he said. “But as soon as they left the market the prices went back up to 17 riyals.” He said that the ensuing arguments between sellers and purchasers threatened to turn violent and led to the police being called to bring calm to the market. “Ministry officials should be at the market at all hours of operation to keep control of the prices,” he said. Another consumer who later in the week had an altercation with one seller said that traders were blaming the cement factories. “Even if there are problems with production, that's not the fault of consumers and we should not have to end up paying for it,” he said. Seller Ahmad Asiri said that a shortage in production was the problem, coupled with an increase in demand. “I have heard of bags going for up to 20 riyals in some parts of Jeddah,” he said. Manufacturers told the newspaper, however, that all their production lines were working to maximum output and that there was no shortage from their end. “The crisis is being caused by people who are trying to exploit the increase in demand for cement that we're seeing at the moment,” they said. Saudi Gazette reported earlier this week that cement prices in Jeddah had been oscillating between SR17 and SR20, as salesmen accused suppliers of trying to “dry up the market” in a bid to push prices up. The Ministry of Trade and Industry was reported last week, however, as having contacted major Arab cement companies to ask them to address the shortfall in cement production. The ministry warned them that it was “prepared to issue fines over price rises”.
