KARACHI: Domestic cement sales remained depressed both in April and between July-April 2021-22 (10MFY22) due to unstable economic and political conditions, the spokesman of the All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA) claimed on Monday.

Local cement despatches by the industry during April 2022 were 3.37 million tonnes compared to 4.06m tonnes in April 2021, down by 17pc, while exports also suffered a massive decline of 82.15pc from 877,163 tonnes in April 2021 to 156,613 tonnes in April 2022.

As a result, total cement despatches (local and exports) fell by 28.6pc in April 2022 to 3.52m tonnes from 4.94m tonnes during the same month of 2021, the APCMA data said.

According to APCMA data, North-based cement mills sold 2.8m tonnes in domestic markets in April 2022, a 17pc decrease from 3.3m tonnes in April 2021.Exports from mills in the North fell by 75.22pc, from 250,072 tonnes in April 2021 to 61,971 tonnes in April.

South-based mills despatched 566,538 tonnes in the local markets during April that was 17.68pc less compared to 688,239 tonnes during April 2021. Exports from the South also fell by 85pc to 94,642 tonnes in April from 627,091 tonnes during the same month last year.

During 10MFY22, total cement despatches (domestic and exports) were 44.3m tonnes, which is 8.22pc lower than the 48.27m tonnes during the corresponding period of last fiscal year. Domestic uptake reduced by 1.84pc to 39.5m tonnes from 40.24m tonnes during July-April 2021-2022. Exports during the same period came down by a massive 40.19pc to 4.8m tonnes from 8.02m tonnes during 10MFY21.

North-based mills despatched 32.73m tonnes domestically during the first ten months of the current fiscal year, down by 3.73pc than 34m tonnes during July-April FY21. Exports from North declined by 65.71pc to 741,072 tonners during July-April 2021-2022 compared with 2.16m tonnes during the same period last year.

Domestic despatches by South-based mills during July-April 2021-2022 were 6.77m tonnes, showing a jump of 8.46pc over 6.24m tonnes during the same period of last fiscal year. There was, however, substantial decline of around 31pc in exports from the south zone as the volumes reduced to 4.05m tonnes in the first ten months of the current fiscal year from 5.86m tonnes during corresponding period of last fiscal year.

A spokesman of APCMA expressed serious concerns over the continuous decline in industry despatch due to the unstable business and economic situation prevailing in the country. He emphasised that the industry needs immediate relief from the government to reduce the cost of production and to increase its sales in domestic as well as international markets. It is the need of the hour to address industry issues in the coming budget and to formulate policies to increase capacity utilisation, he added.

As per data of the State Bank of Pakistan, in 10MFY22, banks approved Rs180 billion under housing loans, while Rs57bn had been disbursed in the above period. Banks had received housing loan applications worth Rs409bn.

The political and economic uncertainty of March had started discouraging investors in the construction sector, which is evident from the domestic April sales data of APCMA.

Furthermore, high interest rates of 12.25pc effective April 7 and the fear of further hikes in interest rates will affect construction activities, while consumers are already under pressure due to rising living costs, with the CPI for April coming in at 13.37pc.

People are also hesitant to make new investments in building new houses due to record high prices for steel bars, cement, and other construction materials.

Published in Dawn,May 10th, 2022