Pakistan cement sector posts nine-month loss
The Pakistan cement sector posted losses for the first nine months of the fiscal year 2010, mainly attributed to the fall in cement prices. A price of cement per bag was over PKR330 last fiscal year which has fallen to below PKR275 per bag this fiscal year. Financial costs also continued to be a major factor for the loss. The cement sector’s recorded cumulative losses of Rs3.3billion in the first nine months of the fiscal year 2010 compared to profits of Rs3.7 billion in the corresponding period last year.
Despite the industry witnessing an increase of 12 per cent in its sales and an increase in capacity utilisation to 83 per cent, retention prices for the cement manufacturers fell to Rs166 per bag. This is mainly due to a price war amongst the cement manufacturers after a break in their price consensus. Cement manufacturers mainly keep prices of cement the same but there have been some differences between the manufacturers recently because of which there is no consensus on the price. Published under Cement News
