Pakistan's cement industry has returned an excellent performance in terms of domestic and export fronts during the month of March. It has recorded its highest ever monthly dispatches of 3.584Mt on the back of healthy growth in domestic consumption and turnaround in exports, thus enabling it to utilise more than 90 per cent of installed capacity during March.

According to All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers’ Association (APCMA), cement dispatches to domestic markets during March increased by 19.13 per cent to 3.05Mt compared with 2.56Mt during same month last year. Exports that dropped by double digits in the first seven months of this fiscal, have shown marginal growth of 1.47 per cent during February but registered an impressive expansion of 20.58 per cent during March as volumes increased to 534,804t compared to 443,539t during March 2015.

The domestic sales in north during March were 2,460,109t compared to 2,074,322t during same month last year, reflecting growth of 18.6 per cent. In the south sales reached 588,898t compared to 485,088t during same month last year, showing growth of 21.4 per cent.

Analysing the overall situation of current fiscal, the cumulative statistics show that during July 2015 to March 2016, Pakistan's cement industry dispatched 23.94Mt in domestic markets, posting a healthy growth of 17.69 per cent compared with 20.34Mt recorded in the same period of the previous year. However, exports from the country declined by 19.02 per cent to 4.406Mt compared 5.44Mt in the first nine months of last fiscal year.

The overall situation during first three quarters of current FY16 showed 9.95 per cent growth compared to the same period of last fiscal year as total dispatches increased to 28.34Mt against 25.78Mt from July 2014 to March 2015.

A spokesman of APCMA said the growth in cement exports in March is very encouraging for the industry. In addition, the cement industry's confidence in the country's economy is solid and has been leading to regular increases in capacity, he said. The latest round of capacity expansions will see around 26,000tpd added as DG Khan, Lucky, Cherat and Attock Cement start the construction of their expansion projects. Other major players are also planning an increase in capacity, the spokesman added.