Pakistan's exports tipped to increase

Experts are hoping an increase in exports of cement from Pakistan during the outgoing FY18. The country recorded its highest growth of cement exports during 2008-10, when, it hovered around 10.75Mt. Of late, exports have started to drift and reached at 4.66Mt in 2016-17 and 3.9Mt in 10 months of FY18.
 
According to a research house report, cement exports are expected to post stellar growth of more than 37 per cent YoY in May, due to addition of new production plants of Lucky Cement and Attock Cement Pakistan (ACPL). "We expect export dispatches to remain over 400,000t during May," Nabeel Khursheed, an analyst at Topline Securities said. "Higher exports from Lucky and ACPL's new cement lines in south region, which came online in December 2017 and January 2018, continue to support this growth as sea exports are expected to settle over 200,000t, up by more than 100 per cent YoY (in May)."
 
According to a report from Attock Cement Pakistan Ltd (ACPL), exports are bound to increase from Pakistan due to recent environmental issues in larger economies, which have opened a window of opportunity for Pakistani clinker in the tightly-controlled markets of west Africa, Bangladesh and Kenya, besides serious enquiries are also coming from east Asia.