LAHORE - Bullish trend in cement dispatches continued unabated in April 2018 while buoyancy in exports was an icing on the cake, as the sector posted highest capacity utilisation of over 95 percent in first 10 months of the current fiscal year.
According to the data released on Saturday by All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA), the industry dispatched 4.237 million tons of cement in April 2018 that was 17.46 percent higher than the dispatches of 3.576 million tons achieved during the corresponding month of last fiscal. The domestic consumption was 3.772 million tons out of which 3.111 million tons was consumed in the northern parts and 0.661 million tons was consumed in the southern parts of the country, reflecting a growth of 13.62 percent.
The overall dispatches during the first ten months of this fiscal were 38.996 million tons compared with 33.880 million tons of cement dispatched during the same period last year, posting a growth of 15.10 percent. The mills from northern region dispatched 28.999 million tons cement for domestic consumption that was 18.69 percent higher than last year. The north zone exported 2.674 million tons of cement during this period that was 1.27 percent less than last year. The mills located in the south zone dispatched 6.087 million tons of cement for domestic consumption that was 11.94 percent higher than last year and exported 1.236 million tons cement which was 5.04 percent less than last year.
Spokesman of APCMA said that the upsurge in consumption is encouraging for the economy as this commodity basically improves the infrastructure and reduces housing deficit in the country, however, the recent increase in Federal Excise Duty (FED) will hurt the local consumption as this will have an impact of Rs 15 per bag.
“The industry in its budget proposals over the years demanded to abolish the FED as cement is not a luxury item and FED is always placed on items to discourage its usage.” spokesman added.