Pakistan's cement industry records highest dispatches in 1Q17

Pakistan cement manufacturers in the first quarter of this fiscal year, July - September 2017 dispatched 10.348Mt of cement – a new record. The country is now well poised to exceed the 40Mt barrier this year, according to data released by the All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers’ Association (APCMA), which added that the cement industry is operating at 88.18 per cent of its installed capacity.

According to APCMA, the sector dispatched 3.199Mt of cement in September 2017 alone that was 4.61 per cent higher than the commodity dispatched in September 2016. Local consumption however was 10.33 per cent higher than the corresponding period of last year.

However, the export sector continued to register a huge decline, which was down by over 23 per cent in September 2017 compared to a year ago.

Local dispatches from factories based in the Northern part of Pakistan stood at 2.367Mt in September 2017, 12.05 per cent higher than 2.113Mt dispatched in September 2016. However, exports from the region fell 16.27 per cent from 0.368Mt in September 2016 to 0.308 Mt in September 2017.

Factories based in the southern region posted a meager increase of 1.77 per cent in local dispatches from 0.423Mt in September 2016 to 0.431Mt in September 2017. Exports from the region dropped considerably to 0.093Mt in September 2017 from 0.155 Mt in the same month last year, registering a decline of 39.63 per cent.
 
Of the 10.348Mt dispatched in the first quarter the north alone dispatched 7.522Mt locally that was 22.83 per cent higher than corresponding quarter of last year. The region during this period exported 0.953Mt of cement that was 7.41 per cent less than the exports during same period last year, ie 1.029Mt. The mills located in south zone dispatched 1.539Mt cement in the first quarter of this fiscal that was 17.76 per cent higher than the corresponding period of last fiscal, ie 1.307Mt. Its exports during the same period were 0.334Mt, 35.22 per cent less than last year's volume of 0.516Mt.

APCMA has requested government to provide freight subsidy to increase exports. In the past, the government had a freight subsidy scheme to facilitate transport of cement to the sea port for export. A spokesman from the association also called for the lowering of punitive duties on cement that has made it costly for the construction sector and damaged middle class aspirations to construct a home.