Cement sales fall 8%

Higher input costs hurting industry, says official body.

KARACHI:

Cement sales fell eight per cent to 18.06 million tons during the first ten months of current fiscal year compared with the preceding year’s 19.22 million tons.

Increase in diesel, electricity and coal prices has badly hit the cement industry, All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers’ Association (APCMA) said in a statement on Wednesday.

Overall exports fell during the year but exports to Afghanistan – the largest destination for local cement – increased by 17 per cent to 3.78 million tons from 3.24 million tons.

Impressive April numbers

Cumulatively, export sales fell but in April they surged 13 per cent to touch 0.93 million tons compared with 0.82 million tons in March.

Local sales have also picked up since March as demand increased in the northern part of the country following development spending by the provincial government, said IGI Securities senior research analyst Sana Abdullah.

Capacity utilisation of the industry also showed an improvement since March as utilisation levels inched up to 89 per cent and 83 per cent in March and April, respectively. Overall utilisation levels for the current financial year have been hit by monsoon floods which hampered production and supply during the starting months of the year.

Prices to rise further

Cement prices could inch up further to Rs425 to Rs430 per bag by the end of June due to rising input costs, said Abdullah.

Prices are currently hovering around Rs395 per bag in the north and Rs370 per bag in the south. Cement prices have shot up by almost 40 per cent in this financial year.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 5^th, 2011.