Rupee appreciation continues to sustain cement exports from Pakistan

Pakistan’s cement industry has registered significant growth in cement and clinker exports during the first four months of FY23-24 (July-October 2023) due to the continued depreciation of the Pakistani rupee and the falling coal prices.  

Pakistan’s cement and clinker exports increased by around 40.5 per cent in the 4MFY23-24 to US$93.08 (2.405Mt) compared to US$66.27m (1.324Mt) in the 4MFY22-23, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) said. In terms of volumes, exports increased by 81.69 per cent YoY in the same period. The export revenue, in Pakistani rupee terms, saw a significant growth of 80.5 per cent to PKR26.89bn during this export period, sustained by the depreciation of the local currency against the US dollar. 

The data on exports and imports released by PBS revealed that MoM, cement and clinker exports registered a -2.4 per cent decline in terms of value in October 2023 to US$26.40m (731,380t)) from US$27.04m (693,023t) in September 2023. But the dispatch volumes, the MoM, saw an increase of 5.5 per cent. However, the YoY cement export data depicts a healthy opposite picture. It increased by 32.6 per cent in value and 91.2 per cent in volume if compared to data from October 2022 (US$19.91m at 382,581t).