Southern cement players in a sweet spot on higher prices across regions

Recent channel checks by brokerages showed an improvement in cement prices across India, for February. The same was being led by South India, where a 16.9 per cent month-on-month (MoM) rise in the price of a 50 kg bag has resulted in a 5.8 per cent improvement in the average all-India cement price MoM, indicates JM Financial’s data.

This is good news for South Indian cement firms, which have seen a spell of weak prices and rising expenses impact their earnings growth. For instance, rising costs and lower realisations pulled down India Cements’ per tonne profitability by 26 per cent year-on-year