There's upside potential in Cement sector as prices rise across regions

Analysts expect H2 to be better and infra spending to be hiked in the Budget; benign energy prices and demand improvement are other triggers

Between September and November, cement prices have increased for three straight months across every region. In addition, energy prices, which are a key input, have seen a decline in the last seven weeks. Apart from crude and gas, imported coal prices have declined by over 20 per cent month-on-month (MoM) in November. This will improve EBITDA per tonne for cement companies in Q3, 2022-23 and in Q4.

That could mean strong gains over Q2, 2022-23 results which were weak due to seasonal factors and high energy costs. There could also be a demand recovery through the second half (H2) of