Pakistan’s cement industry exports exhibit mixed trends

Pakistan’s cement industry has registered significant growth in the first seven months of FY23-24 (July 2023-January 2024) due to the continued good exchange rate of the Pakistani rupee against foreign currency and other factors. AKD Research believes that the recent decline in international coal prices, dropping to US$92/t following reduced winter demand from Europe, presents a favourable development for the cement industry for local and exports.

Pakistan’s cement and clinker exports increased by 49.7 per cent in the 7MFY23-24 to US$150.65m (3.896Mt), compared to US$100.63m (2.061Mt) in the 7MFY22-23, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) said. In Pakistani rupee terms, export revenue saw a significant growth of 89 per cent to PKR43.2bn during this export period, sustained by the local currency’s competitive rates against the US dollar. In terms of volumes, exports increased by 89 per cent YoY in the same period.

However, the export trend was reversed in January 2024 alone. The data on exports and imports released by PBS revealed that cement and clinker exports registered a fall of 32.8 per cent MoM in terms of value in January 2024 to US$14.72m (390,553t) from US$21.92m (572,568t) in December 2023. Volumes saw a contraction of 33.5 per cent on an MoM. The YoY cement export data depicts a mixed picture, increasing by two per cent in value but volume falling by 12.1 per cent compared to data from January 2023 (US$15.02m at 348,424t).