Indian cement firms hike prices but need to see if these sustain, brokerage says

Shree Cement

20/08/2024 06:07

** Indian cement firms have hiked prices which were at
3-year lows; extent of hikes sustaining key for meaningful
earnings update, Antique Stock Broking says 
    ** Price hikes in range of 10 rupees ($0.12) to 20 rupees
per bag; such attempts may continue post-monsoon till mid-Nov,
it adds
    ** Cement prices have been falling since January-March as
intense competition, market share fight spur discounting 
    ** Pan-India average cement prices are down 6%-7% y/y;
demand continues to be muted so far in Q2 FY25 - note
    ** Market leader UltraTech Cement  ULTC.NS  had expected
pricing, demand improvement from October
    ** ULTC, Shree Cement  SHCM.NS , JK Cement  JKCE.NS  are
Antique Stock Broking's preferred picks 
    ** ULTC up 1.4% while SHCM, JKCE both down 0.2% on the day 


($1 = 83.8720 Indian rupees)

 (Reporting by Hritam Mukherjee in Bengaluru)
 ((Hritam.Mukherjee@thomsonreuters.com;))