Cement players face bouts of weak business as second wave spikes death toll

Only difference now is that industry sales have been 30%, unlike last April, when it hit a zero due to the three-week complete nationwide lockdown, say industry players

With the increased death rate in the ongoing second wave of Covid-19, domestic cement companies are in no better condition than they were in the April-June quarter of FY21 when the country faced nationwide lockdown.

“This wave has had high death rate which has impacted the business. We are in no better situation than last (year) April. Deaths of drivers, dealers, contractors and also employees have hit the industry really very hard since April (FY22),” M Ravinder Reddy, director of Bharathi Cements told Business Standard.

Last year, a broken supply chain due to the Covid-induced nationwide lockdown created cement shortage