Pakistan cement industry earns US$46m from exports in July 2012

Pakistan's cement manufacturers and exporters exported 545,125t of cement and earned US$46.197m in the first month of current FY12-13, ie July 2012, compared to 612,500t at US$52.064m in June 2012.

This reflects a fall of 11 per cent and 11.27 per cent in terms of quantity and value in dollar, respectively, on a MoM basis, according to data released by the government’s Federal Bureau of Statistics.

Furthermore, if compared with July 2011 data of 740,592t cement at  a value of US$39.074m, cement exports recorded a fall of 26.39 per cent in terms of quantity but showed a growth of 18.23 per cent in terms of dollar value on a YoY basis.

The average export price of cement is slightly down to US$84.75/t in July 2012 from the US$85/t recorded in June 2012.

A spokesman for the All-Pakistan Cement Manufacturers’ Association (APCMA) in a statement said that exports to Afghanistan and India suffered a sharp drop. Exports to Afghanistan were down by 10.37 per cent to 455,897t, while exports to India slipped by 12.77 per cent to 54,233t in July 2012.

Exports by grinding plants in the southern zone edged down by 17.84 per cent in July 2012 compared with the corresponding month last year. Cement exports by grinding plants located in northern zone declined by 7.02 per cent,“mainly because of high freight cost for export by sea,” APCMA stated.