Pakistan cement industry's increased its overseas dispatches but saw value contract in 1HFY19-20. Therefore, the industry's foreign exchange revenues fell by US$11.74m in the first six months when compared with the previous-year's first half.
The country's cement sector received US$145.26m by exporting 3.766Mt of cement and clinker between July and December 2019, compared to US$157m from exporting 3.671Mt of cement and clinker in same months in the previous year, according to the country's Federal Bureau of Statistics. This represents a YoY fall of 7.5 per cent in terms of dollar value but a volume growth of 2.6 per cent.
In local currency terms, the export value increased by 12.1 per cent to PKR22.72bn from PKR20.27bn during this period. However, on a flip side, value per tonne fell from US$42.76/t to US$38.56/t.
In December 2019 alone, export revenues also saw a MoM reduction to US$21.06m with cement exports of 528,923t as compared to US$29.79m from exports of 800,143t in November 2019. This represents a fall of 29.3 and 33.9 per cent in terms of dollar value and quantity, respectively.
In addition, when compared with data of December 2018 (US$25.88m at 624,714t), discouraging trends of 18.6 per cent and 15.3 per cent in dollar and volume terms, respectively were reported.
According to All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers' Association, export of cement to Afghanistan increased by 46.3 per cent to 1.359Mt, but export to India remains suspended due to the political and economic issues of both countries. Furthermore, cement export to remaining world also saw a declining trend of 12 per cent. However, export of clinker continue to perform well, recording a growth of 100 per cent with a dispatch of over 2Mt clinker to the world market.
