Shafaq News- Erbil

Higher fuel prices have pushed up cement and steel prices across the Kurdistan Region and other parts of Iraq, weighing on the construction sector, a Kurdistan Region investment official said on Monday.

Pshtiwan Hama Saeed, director general of industrial cities and zones at the Kurdistan Region Board of Investment, said the price of subsidized fuel rose from 150,000 Iraqi dinars ($115) to 500,000 dinars ($382) per ton, pushing cement prices up by 40,000 dinars ($31) per ton.

Bulk cement increased from 75,000 dinars ($57) to 115,000 dinars ($88) per ton, while bagged cement rose from 80,000 dinars ($61) to 120,000 dinars ($92).

Steel prices increased by about 6%, from $520 to $550 per ton. Saeed added that factories also face high electricity demand, with power costing 125 dinars per kilowatt-hour.

He blamed the increases on fallout from the Iran-US war, saying factories now require larger quantities of fuel.

Saeed said the Kurdistan Region has six major cement factories producing a combined 19 million tons annually, about 75% of which is sold to central and southern Iraq.

Last month, Kurdistan Region Investment Authority Chairman Mohammed Shukri said the Region had achieved self-sufficiency in most construction materials and was seeking new domestic and export markets for cement and reinforcing steel while expanding local production of other construction and electrical materials.