After a sluggish April, cement makers are betting on a sharp pickup in demand this month, driven by a push in infrastructure and real estate activity ahead of the monsoon.
Last month’s slowdown was largely attributed to labour shortages, as workers — particularly from West Bengal — returned home to vote in elections, disrupting construction activity. Early signals in May are encouraging, but recent price hikes of ₹10–20 per 50 kg bag could temper demand in some regions.
Amid rising input cost such as petcoke, logistics and packaging expenses cement companies increased prices across most regions. With the consistent cost pressure, cement producers will another rise in this month on expectations of revival in demand.
Vinod Vaishi, Chief Executive Officer, Ambuja Cements said given the headlines of inflation and weak monsoon, the cement industry may grow at around 5 per cent to 5.5 per cent in FY27.
The cost pressure has been substantial on the entire industry and the company has targeted to achieve a cost of ₹4,000 a tonne by FY26 end, but it was ₹4,400 a tonne, he said in an analyst call.
Since these are fast-moving global situations and dynamisms over the energy cost and expected hikes in the fuel and diesel it will be very difficult to provide any long-term estimates till the time things stabilise over next two to three quarters, he added.
Ashutosh Murarka, Cement Analyst, Choice Institutional Equities said the slowdown in cement demand in April was temporary disruptions due to labour shortages, election-related activities and migrant movement impacted construction activity for nearly 2–3 weeks across certain markets.
As per industry interactions suggest that demand is likely to improve in May ahead of the monsoon season, with most management commentaries indicating that the April softness was transient in nature, he said.
Companies have initiated another round of price hikes this month and it may range between ₹10-30 a bag depending on demand, recovery ahead of monsoon, he said.
Ravi Singh, Chief Research Officer (Research), Master Capital Services said besides State elections labour shortage was also due to the wedding season and workers returning to their villages for pre-monsoon agricultural activities.
Whenever elections are announced, government project spending cools off and site-level work slows down, which directly hurts cement sales, he added.
‘Pick-up in demand will be led by institutional and infrastructure segment, while trade dealers are still playing it safe and not stocking up much. Overall, demand in the near term remains soft. Even if volumes recover a bit, rising input costs will keep the pressure on the industry,” he said.
Published on May 6, 2026