KARACHI: After posting decrease for three consecutive months, cement despatches swelled by 30pc to 4.623 million tonnes in June, from 3.557m in same month last year.

According to the data released by All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA), domestic cement uptake increased by 19.63pc to 3.835m tonnes in June, from 3.206m tonnes in the same period of last year. Meanwhile, exports soared by 124pc to 0.787m tonnes, from 0.351m tonnes.

The domestic consumption in the North was 3.384m tonnes in June, as against 2.750m tonnes while exports declined to 46,025 tonnes compared with 0.145m tonnes.

The scenario was opposite in the South where domestic consumption fell to 0.451m tonnes in June, from 0.455m in, but exports increased from 0.206m tonnes to 0.742m.

Exports leap 124pc

“The higher uptake in June has provided a hope that the new fiscal year would be better as a result of the incentives provided to the construction sector,” said a spokesman of APCMA.

Meanwhile, FY20 ended on a mixed note for cement sector as domestic consumption edged lower one per cent to 39.96m tonnes, marking the first decline in last six years while exports jumped 20pc, crossing the 7m tonnes mark after a long time.

As a result, overall cement sales in FY20 inched up 2pc to 47.81m tonnes.

Performance of cement units varied across zones as south led in exports while the north in local consumption. In 2019-20, mills in North despatched 34.327m tonnes to the domestic market, up by 6.07pc over the same period in the previous fiscal. However, it lost 22pc of the exports by shipping only 1.97m tonnes.

The region lost Indian market due to protective policies by New Delhi and Afghan due because of decline in construction activities in the landlocked country.

Published in Dawn, July 7th, 2020