Sustained demand has helped many cement companies to record higher despatches in March, which is usually a peak month in terms of consumption. However, cement prices remained unchanged.  
 
Ambuja Cement has taken the lead in recording a 16% growth in cement sales during the month to 1.716Mt compared with 1.474Mt a year ago. The cumulative YoY growth for both despatches and production during the March quarter was at a much slower clip. While despatches during Jan-Mar 2008 stood at 4.749Mt (4.324Mt), indicating a growth of 10%, production was at 4.818Mt (4.282Mt), reflecting a growth of 13%.  
 
ACC reported cement dispatches of 1.92Mt during March, up by almost 5% from 1.83Mt a year ago. Production, too, was up 5.59% at 1.83Mt (1.79Mt). Growth in cumulative production and despatches for the January-March period were at 6.5% and 7.09%, respectively over the year-ago period.  
 
The Aditya Birla Group’s cement production and dispatches for March 2008 stood at 3.029Mt each, registering a growth of 4.89% and 2.83% respectively over March 2007. While cement production for April-March 2008 moved up by 4.77% YoY to 3.0595 mt (2.9201Mt), despatches grew by 4.47% to 3.0553Mt (2.9247Mt).