Pakistan's cement production improves in 5MFY19-20

The Pakistan Federal Bureau of Statistics (PBS) has released the production data of the country's top industries for the first five months of the current financial year. The lacklustre performance in the industrial sector reflects overall economic slowdown in the ongoing fiscal year. The State Bank of Pakistan estimates the economy to grow by 3.5 per cent in 2019-20.
 
The latest data for large-scale manufacturing industries (LSMI) for the July-November 2019 period posts that the overall output of LSMI decreased by 5.9 per cent for July-November 2019 compared to July-November 2018.
 
Pakistani cement production edged up to 16.849Mt in the 5MFY19-20 from 16.58Mt in the previous year's equivalent period. Similarly, this upward trend had also been noticed in November 2019, when cement production recorded a growth of 8.1 per cent to 3.546Mt, compared to 3.379Mt in November 2018.