Lakshmikant Gupta, Partner, HN Gupta
ICR is constantly in touch with cement dealers, who are the crucial, connecting link between the manufacturer and the consumer. Dealers know the pulse of market, beat by beat. So we asked them how their business was going and what were the problems they were beset with. Here is their response, in their voice.
We are dealers in cement since 1982 and cater to the markets in Nagpur district, city and urban. We have currently two brands, UltraTech and Birla Gold. Our trade sales is 1,000-1,200 tonne per month. We also have three appraised dealers with a sale of 300-350 tonne per month. Apart from these two categories, we have direct customers which accounts to a sales of around 700 tonne per month. So, overall sales per month comes to around 2,000-2,200 tonne.
The market trend is such that from November to March, there no shortage of material as against there used to be shortage of material during this period earlier. This is due to downward trend in sales. Budget has no much impact on cement price, which depends on the demand-supply scenario. If there is a demand pull, then the companies will raise the price. We don?t expect a hike in demand in the near future because there is no liquidity cash in the market. Also flow of cash has slowed down from a period of one week to one month and more.