This has resulted in disruption of supply-chain for cement which has created an artificial escalation in the demand for the product resulting in the price rise in the region, according to the industry sources.

At present the cement price is ruling at Rs 110 per bag in the Hyderabad whole sale market, which was Rs 90 per bag just two months ago. However, cement prices in the same season last year was reported at of Rs 140 per bag. As per the industry sources, per bag price would further increase by Rs 10 to 15 before the first week of July.

The industry sources said that due to bumper production of agro products inculding "Mangos" in the state has attracted the transporters towards agro sector as they could realise high volumes and prices from the farmer considering theperishable nature of the commodity.

Despite having contracts with transporters the cement companies are not able to supply as per the demand from their distributors. While a plant, which can load about 100 trucks a day, is now geting only 70 to 80 trucks, the industry sources informed.

Interestingly, the companies are happy with the present problem of limited availability of trucks as it would automatically chech the dumping atitude of some of the big players in the region. To recall, during the same season in last year these new dominent players used to dump huge quantities in a bid to capture the market.

On the other side, even the cement consumption in the state has also gone up with the raise in the consumption by the government sector. The state government has increased the construction activity in the state with laying of new roads and construction of low-income group houses. As per the industry estimates the government sector is consuming about 2 lakh tonnes per month. While in the last seasonthe state has reported a demand of 5 lakh tonnes per month which has increased to 7 lakh tonnes this year. The cement plants in the state are running over 100 per cent capacity producing over 14 million tonnes per annum, the industry sources said.