Pioneer Cement enhances capacity by 0.8m tons

Will now produce 2.2 million tons per annum, market share may rise

KARACHI: Pioneer Cement has enhanced its cement grinding capacity by 0.8 million tons per annum, which the company had been planning to make operational since December 2017.

In that regard, Company Secretary Waqar Naeem notified the stock exchange on Wednesday that Pioneer Cement had enhanced the capacity of its grinding mills to 345 tons per hour.



According to Sherman Securities’ Research Analyst Saqib Hussain, the capacity increase of 0.8 million tons will help the company improve its revenue and profit.

“The company previously had a capacity of 2 million tons per annum, but since a part of its grinding mill had been idle, it was able to produce only 75% of actual capacity, which had been 1.5 million tons. But the expansion will help the company reach full capacity and it may now produce 2.2 million tons,” Hussain told The Express Tribune.

He said the company had initially planned to bring the capacity increase on line by December 2017, but it achieved the goal after a delay of almost six months.



The expansion may help the company improve its market share from 4.6% to 5.2% in the northern region, the analyst said, adding, however, it was not a big development in the region and would not disturb market balance in terms of prices and supplies.

Pioneer Cement’s share price improved by over 2% on Wednesday and the stock was trading at Rs44.91 at the day’s end. 

Published in The Express Tribune, June 28^th, 2018.

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