By: Kemo Kanyi
Jah Oil Company yesterday announced that a large vessel with a capacity of 53,000 metric tons, loaded with cement would dock at the Banjul Port any time soon.
This, according to the company is aimed at addressing recent cement shortages in The Gambia. The country has been hit by acute cement shortage, sparking waves of concern among the construction industry and across the country.
Jah Oil Managing Director, Momodou Hydara, said: “This is the first time in the history of this country that 53,000 metric ton vessel is docking in Banjul. We did this to be able to maintain the new price of D390.” According to him, the vessel is on its way and hopefully it will arrive this weekend. But, he said before its arrival, they have a small vessel that would be cruising back and forth, bringing 4,000 tons here and there for them to be able to maintain the market for those urgent construction needs.
He said the company didn’t just sit and fold its hands in the wake of the scarcity. “I want the public to understand that this is a normal phenomenon. It can happen to any business.”
Hydara assures the public that the company has sufficient capacity to continue meeting national cement demand. Commenting on the recent scarcity, he accused cement importers of trying to take advantage of the minor hiccups to make unnecessary noise.
“When people have wishful thinking and they want to capitalize on a minor hiccup, they will blow things out of proportion and they can even build a mountain out of nothing. That’s exactly what is happening,” he said. “We are all aware that there is a market disruption in the cement industry. Now people need to understand what caused this market disruption. We had a sudden increase in the price of cement in the world market.”
Hydara added: “We are all aware of the tariffs Donald Trump is slapping on countries. I know people will wonder how that could affect The Gambia. I will break it down. The American cement industry imports just like us but from Vietnam. That’s their major market. Now, when Trump slapped Vietnam with a 47% tariff, the businesses in America which are big and import huge volumes turn their attention to Egypt and Turkey which are Jah Oil’s main sources. So when they floated that market with that huge volume demand, prices were automatically distorted because they were booking very high volumes compared to us,” he explained.
He said all of a sudden, the supplier couldn’t catch up with that competition.
“So, he told Jah Oil that, well, we cannot continue selling you with the price. They gave us an invoice. It was inflated. When we looked at and did the calculations, we knew that the only way we could sell that is to increase the prices, which we didn’t want to do.”
He said when they received that information from Egypt, they immediately wrote to the government to explain the situation but there was no immediate response.
“So when we realize that things are the same everywhere, we place orders and inform the government that the price cannot remain at D355 anymore. We highlighted the factors leading to this including the inflation of the dalasi against the US dollar.”
He said despite the slight increase, The Gambia still has the most affordable cement prices in West Africa.
“Even our closest neighbour, Senegal, the 32.5R, which is the lower quality cement compared to the 42.5R which we sell, is retailed at D468. That’s the 32.5R. For the 42.5R, you cannot get it less than D500. We are selling the 42.5R for D390 at the factory and D415 at our stores. This is why we are proud, as a Gambian company, to say that we are bringing the best.”
He accused the cement importers of deliberately inflating the prices to force the government to rethink its policy to the detriment of the Gambian people.
“I am calling on the government and consumer protection to look into it. You cannot come here, buy cement for D390 and sell it to your customers at D450 or D475. How is that fair to the consumers? You think you are doing this to discredit and sabotage Jah Oil, but on the contrary, you are punishing the very people you promised to serve. This is exactly what is happening in the market,” Hydara concluded.