The Javedan Cement Ltd (JCL) has reduced price of ordinary Portland cement (OPC) by Rs 3 to Rs 235 per bag of 50 kg from June 10, 2005 to pass on benefit of low-production cost to the consumers. Managing Director JCL Aslam Chandio said here, on Wednesday that the plant was now running on gas, which has reduced cost of production.
"We have passed on the benefits to the consumers," he added.
He pointed out that another reason for reducing cement prices by JCL, at a time when other factories in the private sector had escalated prices, is to facilitate people, who want to construct their houses.
"This is the only public sector cement factory, and we have reduced prices to facilitate people. After comprehensive maintenance, the plant was running on full capacity", he added.
The daily production of two kilns was estimated at 2,000 to 2,300 tonnes, of which 1,500 tonnes was clinker. Chandio said JCL had also reduced the prices of slag cement and sulphate resistance cement (SRC) to Rs 220 and Rs 250 per bag respectively.
Similarly, per tonne price of OPC has been slashed by Rs 60 to Rs 4,700, slag to Rs 4,400 and SRC to Rs 50,000.
It may be noted that gas supply to JCL was resumed in May 2005, after a suspension of months. The plant was running on costly furnace oil since December 2004.
"This was putting an additional burden on the income of the cement factory, further increasing cost of production and adversely affecting the sales planning," he added.
However, he mentioned that JCL had earned a record pre-tax profit of Rs 168.046 million during 2003-2004 despite the high cost of production and shutting down of one cement grinding unit, which was closed for maintenance purposes.
JCL had produced a record 353,906 tonnes of clinker, and 447,787 tonnes of cement during 2003-2004.