Pakistan began the new fiscal (July 2022) by registering lower cement and clinker exports in value and volume terms, with declines seen on both a MoM and YoY basis. Experts attribute the decline to the global economic slowdown, supply chain disruptions and higher sea freight charges.
Low export prices coupled with increasing coal prices made exports unattractive during the first month of the new fiscal, according to AKD Research. The negative trend was also observed last year, and domestic producer Lucky Cement recently shared its concerns in an analyst briefing. Officials at Lucky Cement said the company's cement exports in FY22 fell significantly by 25.5 per cent YoY to 1.8Mt on account of higher input and freight costs, coupled with political instability in Sri Lanka and Afghanistan, which led to a massive decline.
On a MoM basis, in July 2022 the domestic cement industry earned export revenues of US$5.628m by dispatching 105,141t via land and sea (compared to US$12.80m from 267,937t in June 2022). This represents a steep MoM fall of 56.03 per cent in US dollar terms and a 60.76 per cent decline in volumes, respectively, according to Pakistan's Federal Bureau of Statistics.
On an annual comparative basis, exports decreased by 52.97 per cent and 64.91 per cent in July 2022, compared to July 2021, in terms of value and quantity, respectively. In July 2021, export revenue stood at US$11.966m on dispatches of 299,605t.
