Pakistan cement sales expected to rise 22%

Pakistan cement sales are expected to post a 22 per cent YoY growth for January 2018. This translates to an increase of 3.7Mt from the year-ago period, mainly supported by high local demand, reports The News International.

"We attribute this (increase) to higher demand coming from ongoing development projects and housing schemes," said Nabeel Khursheed, an analyst at Topline Securities, in a financial report.

"Local dispatches are expected to post growth of 26 percent on yearly basis, beating average monthly growth of 19 per cent in the last six months," he said.

Cement dispatches in the northern region constitute 80 per cent of the local demand and are likely to grow 28 per cent YoY to 2.7Mt, in line with the average demand of the last six months. However, demand is anticipated to rise 20 per cent to 0.7Mt in the south, which is better than an average of 0.55Mt seen over the last six months.

The continuing decline in exports looks set to slow in January 2018 to 7-9 per cent, from an average of 17 per cent recorded in the preceding six-month period. Lucky Cement’s new 1.3Mta clinker plant could provide another boost to the export figures.

"During the first seven months of the current fiscal year, cement sales are likely to grow by around 13 pe rcent where local sales are expected to increase by an impressive 17 per cent, better than our estimates," according to the financial report. The document also noted that these figures would take the capacity utilisation of the country’s cement industry to 92 per cent in the period under review.