Lahore - While all the issues raised by the cement manufacturers in the last few months had remain unaddressed, increase in duties on coal had increased the cost of production, said the APCMA spokesman on Sunday.

He said that the increased consumption of cement did not mean that the government imposed duties on its inputs instead of providing relief to the industry, which was badly hit by decline in exports, adding that the government should also honour its commitment made to the cement sector that excise duty would be withdrawn in a phased manner. “The government can generate revenue by stopping the smuggling of cement from Iran and under-invoicing as inaction against the culprits is not only disturbing the industry, but eating up major chunk of the revenue,” he suggested.

He said that although, the increase recorded in domestic consumption in November 2017 was 9.89 percent, the overall growth of the sector stood at 5.16 percent; as it was negatively impacted by a steep decline in exports that went down by 27.11 percent.

However, the drop in exports continued in the first five months of this fiscal year, as these declined by 18.22 percent to 2.079 tonnes from 2.542 million tonnes during the corresponding period of this fiscal year.

People, associated with the cement sector, are worried about the complacency being shown by economic planners towards their sector. The cement sector has so far withstood the impact of decline in exports due to a robust growth in the domestic market. However, the current political uncertainty might impact domestic growth also, said the spokesman of APCMA, adding that the worries were compounded by the fact that more capacities were expected to be commissioned in the next three years, starting from January 2018.