Pioneer Cement raises grinding capacity

Pioneer Cement, located at Khushab, in Punjab province has increased its cement grinding capacity to 0.8Mta.

Company Secretary, Waqar Naeem, notified the stock exchange on Wednesday that Pioneer Cement had raised its grinding capacity to 345tph.

According to Sherman Securities' Research Analyst Saqib Hussain, the capacity increase of 0.8Mta will help the company improve its revenue and profit. The extra grinding capacity was delayed and was originally scheduled to come on-stream in December 2017.

"The company previously had a capacity of 2Mta, but since a part of its grinding mill had been idle, it was able to produce only 75 per cent of actual capacity, which had been 1.5Mta. But the expansion will help the company reach full capacity and it may now produce 2.2Mt," Hussain told The Express Tribune.

The expansion may help the company improve its market share from 4.6 to 5.2 per cent in the northern region, the analyst said, adding, however, it was not a big development in the region and would not disturb market balance in terms of prices and supplies.