LAHORE - Cement sector posted growth of 1.98 per cent in February 2021 as compared to February 2020. Total cement despatches during February 2021 were 4.577 million tons against 4.489 million tons despatched during the same month of last fiscal year.

According to the data released by All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA), local cement despatches in the month of February 2021 showed a nominal increase compared to February 2020. Local despatches were 3.961 million tons in February 2021 compared to 3.735 million tons in February 2020, depicting a growth of 6.06 per cent. Exports continued declining trend as seen during last three months. Total exports dropped by 18.24 per cent from 753,444 tons in February 2020 to 616,030 tons in February 2021.

During February 2021, the north based factories despatched 3.28 million tons cement locally, showing an increase of 3.32 per cent from 3.17 million tons in February 2020, while the south based mills despatched 683,384 tons cement for local consumption which was 21.49 per cent higher than 562,501 tons cement despatched in February 2020.

Exports from north based mills decreased by 7.71 per cent to 186,595 tons in February 2021 from 202,181 tons in February 2020 whereas the exports from south decreased by 22.10 per cent to 429,435 tons in February 2021 from 551,263 tons during the same month last year.

During the first eight months of this fiscal year, total cement despatches (domestic and exports) were 37.95 million tons that was 13.92 per cent higher than 33.31 million tons cement despatched during the corresponding period of last fiscal year.

Local despatches increased by 15.51 per cent during the first eight months period of current fiscal year 2020-2021 to 31.62 million tons from 27.37 million tons during same period of last fiscal year. Exports increased from 5.94 million tons during first eight months of last fiscal year to 6.33 million tons during same period of current fiscal year showing a growth of 6.62 per cent.

During the first eight months of the current fiscal year, north based mills despatched 26.82 million tons of cement for domestic consumption that was 15.29 per cent higher compared to the despatches during the same period last fiscal that stood at 23.26 million tons. Exports from north were 1.63 million tons showing a decline of 9.83 per cent over exports of 1.81 million tons during the same period of last fiscal year.

South based mills despatched 4.79 million tons in the domestic market during the first eight months of current fiscal year which was 16.73 per cent higher than 4.11 million tons despatched during the corresponding period of last fiscal year. The exports from south were 4.70 million tons registering an increase of 13.82 per cent over exports of 4.13 million tons during the same period last year.