The Federal Bureau of Statistics of Pakistan has released cement export data for the nine-month period of July 2019-March 2020 (9MFY19-20). It carries more or less same trend of eight months and does not show any significant impact on overseas dispatches amid the spread of coronavirus in country. However, exports in March 2020 show a contraction due to the lockdown during the latter half of the month, which continues.
 
Pakistan’s cement industry has earned an export revenues of US$210.07m by exporting 5.586Mt of cement and clinker in 9MFY19-20, compared to US$221.25m from 5.206Mt of exports in the year-ago period. This represents a 5.1 per cent decline in terms of value in dollars but a growth of 7.3 per cent in terms of quantity during this period, as reported by Federal Bureau of Statistics.
 
In local currency terms, the export value increased by 12.4 per cent to PKR32.8bn (US$195.3m) from PKR29.18bn during this export period. However, the value per tonne fell from US$42.49/t in 9MFY18-19 to US$37.60/t in 9MFY19-20.
 
In March 2020 export revenues became heavily eroded by 32.1 per cent in terms of value, and by 32.6 per cent in terms of quantity on MoM basis. The revenue reached US$16.15m on the export of 434,499t from US$23.79m with cement exports of 644,711t in February 2020. This represents a contraction of over 32 per cent in both terms of value and quantity.
 
In addition, when compared with data of March 2019 (US$15.39m from 366,708t), a positive trend was observed. The value of exports increased by 4.92 per cent and 18.49 per cent in terms of quantity on YoY basis.
 
According to the All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers' Association (APCMA), cement exports to Afghanistan rose by 49.2 per cent to 1.843Mt in 9MFY19-20, but there were no exports to India during this period. Cement exports from Pakistan to other international markets by sea fell by over six per cent to 1.406Mt. However, clinker exports continued to advance, recording growth of 100 per cent with clinker dispatches of over 3Mt.