KARACHI, Dec 14: There are enormous opportunities for export of cement to the UAE market where construction activity is at its peak in cities like Dubai and Abu Dhabi. “In this respect, cement intake in the UAE can further add 3 per cent to 5 per cent, on an average, in the overall demand generating for the local cement producers,” said analyst Anwar Ahmed Khan in the Capital One Research report on Wednesday.
Cement sector analysts, at almost all research houses, have mentioned that the sector is undergoing an era of enormous growth, where total dispatches for the first five months (July-November) of 2005-06, increased by 11.9 per cent. In numeric terms, total cement dispatches of the industry stood at 7.23 million tons, as compared to the corresponding period sales level of 6.46 million tons. The Local consumption of the commodity surged by 13.7 per cent to 6.58 million tons from the preceding year’s level of 5.78 million tons.
“Major triggers for the continuous growth in cement dispatches remain the extensive construction activity along with development of infrastructure projects. The manufacturers’ operated plants worked at 98.6 per cent capacity utilization during the five months period of the current year,” said the analyst at Capital One. The newly installed capacities have come on line and more are to start early next year.
He observed that setting aside demand of cement emanating from different impending development projects, initial intake coming due to the rehabilitation process in the Northern region of the country, owing to the massive devastation caused by the Oct 8 earthquake, was likely to hover between 1.5 million tons and 2.5 million tons for 2006 and 2007. That demand is expected to start coming in from as early as spring of 2006.
