[This is an EXCERPT: read the whole article here. This article does not make the energy connection as clearly as another, from business24-7.ae, which read "A shortage of energy – particularly gas – combined with high oil prices and inflation in local and global economies – has contributed to a fall in profits of most UAE cement companies." -Ed.]

The price of cement
by Sean Cronin

"There is something counterintuitive about cement companies warning of insolvency amid one of the biggest building booms on the planet. Theirs is not a complex business."

"With the highest per capita expenditure on construction in the world, many building sites in and around Dubai have stopped work while contractors desperately try to source the grey stuff from the black market."

"The situation has arisen because the price of cement was capped last year along with other, mainly food items, to protect against inflationary pressure. Unfortunately for the cement companies, the price of the raw materials they use to manufacture their product, was not capped in a similar way."

"Contractors are either importing the material or buying it from the middlemen at vastly inflated prices, adding to construction costs and in turn fuelling inflation."

Photo credit: cgsheldon