Growth in cement export demand in Pakistan

Rapid growth in cement demand in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Dubai, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand has ignited a new zeal and spirit in Pakistan’s cement sector which is currently busy in expansion of production capacity from existing 18Mt to 28Mt per annum.

Informed sources say, so far the major portion of the cake, 98 per cent of the exports, is enjoyed by the cement units located in Northern Zone of the country due to its close vicinity to Afghanistan.  The cement units located in Southern Zone, i.e. Sindh and Balochistan contribute only two per cent of the total exports earnings of the last year. The total exports were estimated over one million tons last year.

DG Khan cement which is reportedly the largest exporter is expanding its production capacity at a cost of $73m which would be adding 7000 tons of cement per day to transform into 4.2Mta. Another unit is Lucky Cement which is increasing its existing capacity of 4800 tons per day to 21,000 tons per day. Lucky has already acquired land for setting up a plant near Karachi.