Cement supply slumps as dealers go on strike

LAHORE: The government is losing Rs350-Rs400 million in revenues on a daily basis due to the crisis in the cement sector as dealers are at loggerheads with the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) over documentation of sales, said industry sources.

The strike by cement dealers has gravely slashed down the cement supply resulting in the worst scenario for the sector as total daily dispatches have fallen from 150,000 tons to 40,000 tons.

The cement industry has already been marred with issues like gas price hike, axle load limitations, smuggling of Iranian cement, increase in the federal excise duty etc. “Now the conditions imposed by FBR on distributors is further deteriorating the situation as cement dealers and distributors have refused to collect cement bags from the factories,” the sources added. Cement industry contributed Rs110 billion to the national exchequer in the last fiscal year but this figure would decrease considerably due to economic conditions.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 5^th, 2019.

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