Pakistan’s cement industry has sustained a noteworthy growth in cement and clinker exports during the first quarter of FY23-24 (July-September 2023) due to the continued depreciation of the Pakistani rupee and the falling coal prices. However, the average value of these exports remained weaker. It fell to US$39.82/t from US$49.23/t but saw a growth in Pakistani rupees during this period.
Pakistan’s cement and clinker exports increased by around 43.9 per cent in the 3MFY23-24 to US$66.68m (1.675Mt) compared to US$46.35m (941,529t) in the 3MFY22-23, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) said. In terms of volumes, exports increased by 77.8 per cent YoY in the same period. The export revenue, if calculated in Pakistani rupees, saw a significant growth of 85.5 per cent to PKR19.49bn during this export period, supported by the depreciation of the local currency against the US dollar.
The data on exports and imports released by PBS revealed that MoM, cement and clinker exports registered 15.1 per cent growth in terms of value in September 2023 to US$27.04m (693,023t)) compared to US$23.49m (569,376t) in August 2023. In terms of dispatch volumes, the MoM increase was 21.7 per cent. However, the YoY cement export data depicts a different picture. It slid by 7.2 per cent in value but saw a growth of 13.2 per cent in quantity if compared to data of September 2022 (US$29.13m at 612,372t).
