Pakistan’s cement industry’s total cement dispatches during April 2024 were 2.94Mt, compared to 2.95Mt in April 2023. This comprises local cement at 2.33Mt against 2.53Mt in April 2023, showing a decline of 7.99 per cent. Export dispatches rose by 45.96 per cent as the volumes increased from 420,857t in April 2023 to 614,264t in April 2024.
Usama Rauf, investment analyst at AKD Securities, said the monthly decline in domestic dispatches is primarily attributed to the inclusion of Eid holidays and a high base from the previous month due to post-winter/election demand. However, overall exports remained strong, mitigating some of the impact of the domestic sales decrease. This export increase is mainly due to their increased viability amid reduced coal prices and improved global demand with easing inflation. Consequently, total sales growth for the full fiscal year is expected to remain flat at two per cent, mainly supported by increased exports.
In April 2024, northern cement mills dispatched 2.088Mt of cement, a decline of 4.79 per cent compared to 2.193Mt in April 2023. Southern mills dispatched 854,911t of cement in April 2024, 12.71 per cent more than the 758,510t in April 2023.
Northern cement mills dispatched 1.942Mt of cement in domestic markets in April 2024, a 7.91 per cent decline compared to the 2.109Mt dispatched in April 2023. Southern mills dispatched 386,783t of cement in local markets during April 2024, 8.36 per cent less than the 422,071t dispatched in April 2023.
Exports from northern mills increased by 73.11 per cent, from 84,418t in April 2023 to 146,136t in April 2024. Exports from the south also increased by 39.14 per cent, to 468,128t in April 2024 from 336,439t in the same month last year.
10MFY24 cumulative dispatches
During 10MFY24, total cement dispatches (domestic and exports) were 37.45Mt, 2.45 per cent higher than the 36.55Mt seen during the last fiscal year. Domestic dispatches during this period were 31.73Mt against 33.10Mt during the same period the previous year, showing a reduction of 4.12 per cent. Export dispatches showed healthy growth by 65.35 per cent as volumes increased to 5.72Mt during 10MFY24 compared to 3.46Mt of exports during the last fiscal year.
Northern mills dispatched 26.18Mt of cement domestically during 10MFY24, showing a reduction of 3.60 per cent from cement dispatches of 27.16Mt during July 2022-April 2023. Exports from the north increased by 37.48 per cent per cent to 1.186Mt during July 2023-April 2024 compared with 862,855t exported during the same period last year. Total dispatches by northern mills were reduced by 2.34 per cent to 27.364Mt during 10MF24 from 28.019Mt during the previous financial year.
Domestic dispatches by southern mills from July 2023 to April 2024 were 5.553Mt, showing a reduction of 6.48 per cent over 5.938Mt of cement dispatched during the last fiscal year. Exports from the south increased by 74.62 per cent to 4.529Mt during July 2023-April 2024 compared with 2.594Mt exported during the previous year. Total dispatches by southern mills increased by 18.17 per cent to 10.082Mt during 10MFY24 from 8.53Mt of 10MFY24.
APCMA demands
An All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA) spokesman urged the government to announce industry-friendly measures in the upcoming budget to boost the country’s construction activities. He added that we need to increase our capacity utilisation to bring in economies of scale and control our operations cost to reduce the overall impact on the end consumer.
