Delayed monsoon could impact cement industry in India

The late arrival of India’s monsoon has left some areas of the country in danger of drought. In Aurungabad in Maharashtra, which is in the west of India, the city government has placed a ban on construction projects involving water, to try to preserve resources for drinking. Credai, the Real Estate Developers’ Associations of India, has expressed its displeasure over the ban, saying it was not consulted and building firms were not given the opportunity to prepare for the ban. “Around 1000 projects in the construction stage will come to a standstill,” a Credai representative is quoted as saying in the Times of India. “This will lead to a loss of about as high as Rs.3 crore a day…Most of our sites have more than a month’s stock of cement, steel and other building material. If we stop the construction work now, the moist weather will damage the raw material.”

India is reliant on the monsoon, which drives the agriculture industry and defines the economic mood for the year. As Reuters reports in the article India’s poor monsoon threatens first drought in five years, ‘A poor monsoon cuts exports, stokes food inflation and leads to lower demand for products ranging from cars to consumer goods, while a slow start could delay exports of some crops and increase the need for imports’. However, the article also reports that rainfall could pick up next week, meaning drought concerns would be short-lived.

Edited from various sources by Katherine Guenioui

Read the article online at: https://www.worldcement.com/asia-pacific-rim/25072014/delayed-monsoon-could-impact-indian-cement-industry-176/