DESPITE Apo Cement Corp.’s announcement of a P20 increase in the prices of its cement, the Cebu Contractors Association (CCA) said this will not affect the construction industry.

Bernard Sia, spokesperson of the CCA, told SunStar Cebu that they can buy bags of cement for as cheap as P185 to P190 from other brands.

“The other brands are not going up, and there are some cement importers already. I don’t see an inherent effect in the construction industry, as far as that is concerned,” he said.

“Di siguro kaayo mo affect kay there are substitutes,” he added.

Apo Cement on Wednesday, Nov. 21, said it will be increasing the price of its cement products by P20 per bag because of higher production cost due to the continued suspension of quarry operations of its supplier, Apo Land and Quarry Corp. (ALQC), following the landslide in the City of Naga last Sept. 20.

Sia said that with the industry becoming competitive, contractors make sure they provide the quality service their clients need for every project.

He said contractors are competing not only among local contractors, but also globally.

“Contractors want to be as efficient as possible because contractors in Cebu want (to make sure) that when there are biddings, they are able to compete with the national and international contractors. So everybody is trying their best to make sure that the prices hold because they want to get the projects,” he said.

As of this week, there was a decrease of P2 in the price of the cement products of Apo, Sia said, upon their review of the prices.

“It was cheaper by P2 compared to last week. There is no effect because we have not felt the increase yet,” he said.

A hardware retailer in Cebu told SunStar Cebu they were informed the new prices will take effect on Dec. 1.

Apo also announced that it will be closing down its cement terminal in Davao, and suspending the operation of one of its two kilns in Cebu. JOB