Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA) estimated a decline in Pakistan cement dispatches in August and July-August 2022 (2MFY21-22) as the country experiences economic challenges, rising inflation, political unrest and heavy rains due to floods.

Total cement dispatches (domestic deliveries plus exports) declined by 24 per cent in August 2022 to 3.296Mt when compared with 4.336Mt in August 2021. Of this total, domestic dispatches declined 23.8 per cent YoY to 2.9Mt from 3.81Mt in August 2021. Exports fell by 25.7 per cent to 387,440t in August 2022 from 521,468t in August 2021.

In August 2022 cement mills in the north dispatched 2.59Mt of cement, down 20.9 per cent YoY against 3.28Mt shipped in August 2021. Southern-based mills delivered 700,436t of cement in August 2022, down 33.5 per cent YoY from 1.05Mt.

In terms of domestic dispatches, northern-based mills delivered 2.5Mt in August 2022, representing a YoY fall of 20.3 per cent when compared with 3.14Mt in August 2021. Southern-based mills shipped 404,959t of cement in the same period, 39.9 per cent less than the dispatches of 673,572t in August 2021.

Exports from northern-based mills declined by 35.2 per cent to 91,963t in August 2022 from 141,804t in August 2021. Exports from the south dropped 22.2 per cent to 295,477t in August 2022 from 379,664t in August 2021.

July-August 2022
In the July-August 2022 (2MFY21-22) period total cement dispatches fell by 35.2 per cent YoY to 5,336Mt from 8.235Mt in the 2MFY20-21. Of this total, domestic dispatches were down 34 per cent YoY to 4.795Mt against 7.261Mt in the previous year's equivalent period. Export dispatches were also 44.5 per cent less as the volumes reduced to 540,957t during the 2MFY21-22 compared to 974,245t of exports carried out in the 2MF20-21.

In the north grinding units dispatched 4.121Mt of cement to domestic market in the 2MFY21-22. This represents a drop of 31.7 per cent from 6.033Mt in the year-ago period. Exports from the north during the 2MFY21-22 were down 41.5 per cent to 162,210t from 277,422t from July-August 2021.

Domestic dispatches by grinding units in the south were 674,436t in July-August 2022, which resulted in a reduction of 45.1 per cent when compared with 1.228Mt in the same period of FY20-21. Exports from the south declined by 45.7 per cent to 378,747t during July-August 2022 compared with 696,823t  exported during the previous year.