Pakistan: 57 per cent rise in cement exports in July-August
Pakistan’s cement export has registered a growth of 57 per cent and has crossed 1.5Mt mark in the first two months of the current fiscal year due to the rising demand in the Middle East and other regional countries, industry sources said.
In view of the growing demand for cement the local cement industry has shown a healthy growth trend and has extended its production capacity from 30Mt to 40Mt, they said. All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA) statistics show that in August 2008 the country’s cement export reached 786,497t as compared to 575,510 tonnes during the same period of last year, depicting an increase of 210,987t, or 36.66 per cent.
Sources said that goods transporters’ strike has affected the exports last month, as such the growth in August 2008 was lower than in August 2007, when exports had increased by 144 percent.
Local cement supplies decreased by 21.27 per cent, to 1.545Mt in August 2008 as against 1.963Mt in August 2007. The decline was the result of political uncertainty prevailing in the country since the last few months, they added.
Overall cement supplies also showed decline of 8 percent to 2.332Mt in August 2008 as compared to 2.54Mt in the same period of last year. Cement exports surged by 57.34 per cent from 582,893t to 1.6Mt in the two months of the current fiscal year.
Overall dispatches, including exports and local sales, stood at 4.94Mt during July-August 2008 from 4.93Mt of last year, depicting a slight increase of 0.18 per cent. Sources said that the local supplies position may improve after release of PSDP funds.
Published under Cement News
