Cement price pain not over yet

Hit and miss

- Harsha Jethmalani

For the cement sector, two themes played out in 2024—rising consolidation and weakening prices. At the forefront of inorganic expansions were Aditya Birla Group UltraTech Cement Ltd and Adani Group's Ambuja Cements Ltd, who acquired smaller companies to aggressively boost market share and meet capacity expansion targets.

Elevated competition, and muted spending on infrastructure and allied projects by the government weighed on demand and prices during the year. In effect, the industry's key earnings parameters suffered.

Over the past four quarters, the sector's profitability measure Ebitda/tonne declined from ₹1,200 to ₹700 despite cost tailwinds, according to an IIFL Securities report.