The Minister of Industry and Infrastructure Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan called artificial the increase in cement prices

“I would like to assure our citizens that the volumes of cement and its production capacity in Kazakhstan are sufficient. Today we produce 15 million tons of cement at 12 cement plants. At the same time, the demand for the construction industry is only 9.3 million tons. In four months we have already produced 30% more than last year. At the same time, there is some kind of artificial excitement, the prices for cement in our plants on average are kept today at the level of 21-22 thousand tenge. Practically, this excitement probably led to some consequences,” said the Minister of Industry and Infrastructure Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan Beibut Atamkulov, answering questions during a reporting meeting with the population.

According to the minister, prices at factories are rising by only 5 %. “Our increase is about 5 %, this is due to the growth of prices for fuels and lubricants, therefore mainly due to transportation. But, at the same time, prices on the market are growing by 40 %, by 30 %, somewhere by 50 %. The merit for such hike goes to the so-called trading companies-resellers, we therefore turned to the antimonopoly department, today the appropriate verification procedures have begun, and appropriate measures will be taken," emphasized Beibut Atamkulov.