From Our Correspondents Cement a Decontrol Success Story

BY all accounts the cement industry has fared remarkably well in the period following the dual price policy introduced in February 1982. This policy brought in a two-tier pricing system consisting of a levy price for government supplies and an open market price. The levy quota was roughly two-thirds of installed capacity while the balance could be disposed of in the free market. The policy thus amounted to partial decontrol of cement. The states were left to work out their own distribu-tion machinery for quota cement. The levy price was raised, first in February 1982 and again in July 1984, to allow for cost escalations.