Mangalam Cement, a BK Birla group company, has benefited from strong demand conditions in the northern part of the country over the past few months. Cement prices have increased on a per-tonne basis in this region during the current peak construction season.
As per reports, cement dispatches in the northern region grew nearly 14 per cent year-on-year between January and February 2011, significantly higher than the all-India growth during this period. This was due to a pick-up in government-funded infrastructure projects and real estate sector, coupled with dealer restocking. As a result, cement prices in New Delhi jumped by nearly 20 per cent from the levels at the end of the third quarter.
This should help cement players in the region, which had faced a rather difficult operating environment during the second and the third quarter of FY11.