KARACHI: Cement sales grew by 10 per cent to 33.313 million tonnes during the first eight months of this fiscal year from 30.253m tonnes in the corresponding period last year.

The All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA) spokesperson said that despite robust growth, domestic demand of the commodity remained lopsided with consumption in the northern region reaching historic highs of 23.23m tonnes in July-February period of FY20, up by 15.53pc from 20.16m tonnes in same period last year.

In contrast, the domestic consumption in the southern region declined to 4.11m tonnes during the period under review, down 25pc from 5.47m tonnes in the same period last year.

Exports depicted an opposite pattern falling to 1.80m tonnes from north-based mills compared to 1.85m tonnes in the first eight months of last fiscal year.

However, exports from south zone jumped to 4.131m tonnes from 2.792m tonnes in July-Feb FY19, depicting a huge increase of 48pc. Exports from the south zone exceeded the domestic consumption in the region.

Total cement despatches in February increased by 34pc to 4.49m tonness from 3.35m tonnes during the same month 2019.

Domestic consumption increased by 31.35pc year-on-year to 3.736m tonnes in February while exports registered an impressive increase of 48.20pc to 0.753m tonnes in February.

North-based mills despatched 3.173m tonnes locally, which was almost 46pc higher than 2.175m tonnes during the corresponding month of last fiscal year. As per recent trends, exports from the north-based mills also increased during the month under review by 23pc to 0.202m tonnes.

Mills in the southern region reported a decline in domestic consumption by 16pc as despatches fell to 0.551m tonnes during the month whereas exports surged by a whopping 60pc to 0.55m tonnes last month during the same period.

APCMA spokesperson attributed the jump in exports to falling rupee value against the dollar. However, exports from north remained subdued due to lower demand in Afghanistan and zero exports to India through the Wagha border.

He said cement production capacity increased to 64m tonnes FY20 and the industry has been able to utilise only 78.53pc of its current installed capacity so far this year with over 9.1m tonnes unused as idle capacity.

He appealed to the government to support the industry by minimising duties and taxes on cement in order to maintain the momentum of cement consumption.

Published in Dawn, March 4th, 2020