Cement sales touch record peak in October

Mills dispatch 5.7 million tons to consumers

LAHORE:

The cement sector has continued to post growth in the current fiscal year as monthly sales touched a record high in October 2020 when mills dispatched 5.735 million tons to consumers.

According to data released by the All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA), domestic consumption of cement increased 15.83% to 4.859 million tons in October 2020 from 4.195 million tons in October 2019.

Exports registered an increase of 11.58%, going up to 875,266 tons in October from 784,433 tons in the same month of previous year.

Cement mills based in the country’s north dispatched 4.165 million tons to the domestic market in October 2020 compared to 3.605 million tons in October 2019, an increase of 15.53%. Exports from the northern region came in at 0.283 million tons, higher by 8.54% against exports of 0.261 million tons last year.

There was also positive growth in sales of cement mills based in the southern region, whose domestic dispatches increased 17.70% to 695,221 tons in October 2020 from 590,690 tons in October 2019. Exports from the southern region continued to grow and rose 13.09% to 591,877 tons in October this year from 523,353 tons in October 2019.

In first four months (Jul-Oct) of the ongoing fiscal year, 19.321 million tons of cement was dispatched, which was 19.89% higher than the corresponding period of previous year, when 16.116 million tons were sold. Domestic sales in Jul-Oct 2020 registered a healthy increase of 17.94%, rising from 13.315 million tons to 15.704 million tons.

Exports during the period under review also recorded an encouraging growth, increasing 29.15% from 2.8 million tons to 3.617 million tons.

In the southern region (Sindh and Balochistan), the domestic sales growth remained healthy at 12.08% in the first four months as consumption went up from 1.860 million tons to 2.085 million tons this year.

An APCMA spokesperson was of the view that cement consumption could increase further if the government rationalised duties and taxes, and withdrew excise duty. “Government will generate higher revenue even with reduced taxes when cement sales will increase,” he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 5^th, 2020.

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