GWERU-based cement company, Sino Zimbabwe, has reduced the price of its cement products by 20 percent to increase market share.

The reduction could also be a strategy to outplay the entrant of a new player, Dangote Cement, which plans to invest in a cement plant in the country.

General Manager, Wang Yong, said they had reduced the price of PC15 cement from US$10 to US$8 per 50 kg bag.

The strategy is expected to turn around the company's fortunes.

"We have performed better than we did in the first half of last year. Our cement sales have grown 10 percent compared to last year's three percent," said Yong.

"Cement demand increased by two percent in the first half of this year. We hope that this year we will surpass this target," Yong added.

Sino-Zim is the smallest player in Zimbabwe's cement business in which it competes against Pretoria Portland Cement and Larfage-Holcim.

The company has also commissioned cement packers, dispatching machines and two silos following a US$4 million cash injection.

Yong said the company would also introduce a new range of the 4,2 portland cement as it seeks to improve its competitiveness.

"The 4,2 portland cement is still undergoing tests so as to improve its shelf life. We are currently building another workshop which will mainly focus on the new product," Yong said, adding that the company was targeting a 100 percent growth in output, pinning its hopes on the rise in demand of cement products in the construction sector.