LAHORE - Cement sector posted massive growth of 40.41 per cent in April 2021. Total cement despatches during April 2021 were 4.943 million tonnes against 3.52 million tonnes despatched during the same month last fiscal year.
According to the data released by All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA), local cement despatches during the month of April 2021 increased to 4.066 million tonnes from 3.271 million tonnes in April 2020, showing a healthy increase of 24.29 percent. Exports also increased significantly by 252 percent, from 249,127 tonnes in April 2020 to 877,163 tonnes in April 2021.
During April 2021, the north based mills despatched 3.377 million tonnes cement in domestic markets showing an increase of 15.33 percent over 2.928 million tonnes despatches in April 2020. South based mills despatched 688,239 tonnes cement in local markets during April 2020 registering a robust increase of 100% compared to the despatches of 342,594 tonnes in April 2020.
Exports from north based mills registered an enormous increase of 155 times as the volumes increased from just 1,609 tonnes in April 2020 to 250,072 tonnes in April 2021. Exports from south also increased by 153.35 percent to 627,091 tonnes in April 2021 from 247,519 tonnes during the same month last year.
During the first 10 months of this fiscal year, total cement despatches (domestic and exports) were 48.274 million tonnes which was 19.03 percent higher than 40.555 million tonnes of cement despatched during the corresponding period of last fiscal year.
During July 20 to April 21, local despatches increased by 18.87 percent to 40.249 million tonnes from 33.859 million tonnes in the same period last year. Exports increased from 6.696 million tonnes during the first 10 months of the last fiscal to 8.025 million tonnes during July 20 to April 21, showing a growth of 19.84 percent.
During the first 10 months of the current fiscal year, north based mills despatched 34.008 million tonnes of cement for domestic consumption that was 17.51 percent higher compared to the despatches during the same period last fiscal that stood at 28.941 million tonnes. Exports from north were 2.161 million tonnes showing an increase of 12.75 percent over exports of 1.916 million tonnes during the same period of last fiscal year.
Local despatches from south based mills were 6.241 million tonnes during the first ten months of the current fiscal year which was 26.92 percent higher than 4.917 million tonnes despatched during the corresponding period of last fiscal year. The exports from south recorded 5.863 million tonnes registering an increase of 22.69 percent over exports of 4.779 million tonnes during the same period last year.
A spokesman of APCMA said that cement exports have touched eight million tonnes during the first 10 months of current fiscal year and will likely cross nine million tonnes by June 2021. “Another point worth noting is that domestic despatches are increasing even in the month of Ramazan during which the construction activities usually slow down,” he added.
However, despite this growth, the industry is operating in very tough scenario due to continuous rise in major inputs. “We request the government to treat the cement sector at par with other exporting sectors and rationalize import levies on coal as well as the electricity tariff which are the main cost elements of cement sector,” added the spokesman.