Pakistan's total installed cement manufacturing capacity stands at 49.44 million tons per annum
PHOTO: EXPRESS
KARACHI: Bestway Cement has announced that it has completed installation of its new 1.8-million-ton facility and has also started production.
"Bestway Cement has completed the construction and installation of a brownfield expansion project at its Farooqia plant site in a record time of 14 months," Company Secretary Sehar Husain announced in a notification sent to the Pakistan Stock Exchange on Friday.
The Farooqia Line-II has clinker production capacity of 6,000 tons per day and it has started production from May 31.
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According to Sherman Securities' Research Analyst Saqib Hussain, it is the fourth increase in production by a cement manufacturer after Attock Cement, Lucky Cement and DG Khan Cement.
Meanwhile, more increase in production capacity is expected from Cherat, Maple Leaf, Pioneer and Thatta Cement.
Addition of the new capacity may push cement prices down, the analyst said, adding cement players had brought new production capacities beyond existing demand.
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Earlier, Lucky Cement and Attock Cement had cumulatively added 2.4 million tons of new production lines in December 2017 and January 2018 and another capacity of 2.6 million tons was added by DG Khan Cement last month.
Hussain was of the view that Bestway, with increased capacity, would certainly try to earn from investment in the new plant and sell as much as it could. "But the demand has not increased with the increase in industry's capacity."
Another research analyst said all cement companies knew about each other's capacity expansion plans and still they did not shelve their programmes, which meant the industry saw the potential in domestic and export markets.
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Cement manufacturers have announced the addition of new production lines keeping in view the huge construction work under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). The industry's capacity is expected to rise another 20 million tons by 2020-21 with the new production lines.
According to the All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association's website, Pakistan's total installed cement manufacturing capacity stands at 49.44 million tons per annum. Data perhaps does not include the new Bestway and DG Khan plants.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 2nd, 2018.
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