Lucky Cement, Pakistan’s biggest maker of building material plans to ship 200,000t of cement to India in the next 12 months to take advantage of a supply shortage in South Asia’s biggest economy.

“A team from the Bureau of Indian Standards will visit our plant soon to conduct a quality control test required by the government before allowing imports,” Abdul Razzaq Thaplawala, executive director at Lucky Cement said.

Pakistan’s cement exports doubled in the 10 months ended 30 April, because of higher demand from Afghanistan, India and the Middle East. Pakistan sold 2.45Mt of cement overseas in July-to-April, compared with 1.21Mta earlier, according to the Lahore-based All-Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association.

Lucky shipped 125Mt of cement to India in April on a trial basis, traders said.

Pakistan is expected to produce a cement surplus of 15Mt in the year ending June, they said. The government ended a ban on cement exports on 28 September 2006.