Pakistan cement production shrinkage in 8MFY19

Pakistan cement production shrinkage in 8MFY19
23 April 2019


The overall output of Pakistan's Large-Scale Manufacturing Industries (LSMI) fell by 1.7 per cent for July-February 2018-19 compared to July-February 2017-18, reports Pakistan's Bureau of Statistics (PBS). On a further negative note, the LSMI output decreased by 1.5 per cent in February 2019 compared to February 2018, and by 5.1 per cent when compared to January 2019.

Output in July-February 2018-19 as compared to July-February 2017-18 has decreased in food, beverages and tobacco, petcoke and petroleum products, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, cement, non-metallic mineral products, automobiles and iron and steel products.

As a result, overall large-scale manufacturing sector has recorded a decline of 1.7 per cent during July-February 2018-19 when compared with the same eight months of the previous year.

Cement production
Pakistan's cement industry recorded a negative growth of 4.4 per cent during first eight months of FY18-19 (between July 2018 and February 2019), as production fell from 27.17Mt of cement to 25.99Mt, reportedly due to a drop in local demand amongst other factors. While, in February 2019 alone, cement production decreased by 15.4 per cent to 2.88Mt from 3.4Mt in same last year.

A spokesman for All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA) stated that production and sales continued to suffer from lack of domestic demand due to slowing down in growth, lower development spending and delay in launch of government's ambitious low-cost housing scheme.

Published under Cement News