Lahore - The cement sector is passing through a lean period which despite mammoth growth in exports still recorded negative overall growth of 1 percent in November 2018 as compared to same month last year.
According to the data, released by All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association on Tuesday, in November the cement industry despatched 3.899 million tons of cement that was one percent less than 3.941 million tons of cement despatched during the corresponding month of last year. Total local despatches in the month fell from 3.593 million tons in November 2017 to 3.337 million tons last month, depicting a decrease of 7.13 percent.
The factories located in the Northern region of the country despatched 2.871 million tons of cement in November 2018 compared with 3.245 million tons despatched in November 2017. Local cement despatches in November 2018 were 2.632 million tons, down from 2.967 million tons in November 2017. The region also failed to register growth in exports which decreased from 0.278 million tons in November 2017 to 0.239 million tons in November 2018.
The units operating in the Southern part of the country despatched 1.029 million tons of cement in November 2018 compared with 0.696 million tons produced in November 2017. Local despatches from the region grew from 0.626 million tons in November 2017 to 0.705 million tons in November 2018.
Total cement despatches reached to 19.253 million tons in the first five months of this fiscal. This is 4 percent higher than the despatches of 18.513 million tons achieved during the corresponding period of last fiscal. The domestic dispatches during July to November 2018 stood at 16.283 million tons compared with dispatches of 16.434 million tons recorded in July to November 2017.