Cement sales in Pakistan ticked up 6.91% in November 2021 as total offtake stood at 4.82 million tons against 4.5 million tons in the corresponding month of previous fiscal year.
According to data released by the All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA) on Monday, domestic cement demand stood at 4.12 million tons in November 2021 compared to 3.74 million tons in November 2020, depicting an increase of 10.21%.
On the other hand, exports of the commodity fell 9.2% from 766,273 tons in November 2020 to 695,779 tons in November 2021.
In November 2021, mills based in the northern region sold 3.47 million tons of cement in the domestic market, which was 10.87% higher than sales of 3.13 million tons in November 2020.
Domestic offtake from mills based in the southern part of the country came in at 654,983 tons during the month under review against 613,113 tons in November 2020, a rise of 6.83%.
Exports from north-based mills plunged 69.67% as the quantity plummeted from 182,091 tons in November 2020 to just 55,234 tons in November 2021.
Meanwhile, foreign shipments from south-based mills rose 9.65% to 640,545 tons in November 2021 while the region exported 584,182 tons in the same month of last year.
Jul-Nov numbers
In the first five months (July-November) of current fiscal year, total cement sales came in at 22.86 million tons, down 4.11% from 23.83 million tons in the corresponding period of previous fiscal year.
Domestic sales of the commodity registered a slight increase of 2.84% to 20 million tons in July-November 2021 as against 19.46 million tons in July-November 2020.
Moving on to exports, foreign shipments of cement fell 34.92% to 2.85 million tons in July-November 2021 from 4.38 million tons during July-November 2020.
North-based mills sold 16.8 million tons of cement in the domestic market during the first five months of current fiscal year, showing a marginal increase of 0.17% compared to 16.76 million tons supplied in July-November 2020.
Exports from the northern region declined 52.56% to 516,003 tons during July-November 2021 against 1.09 million tons in the same period of last year.
Domestic sales by mills based in the southern region stood at 3.22 million tons during July-November 2021, registering a rise of 19.4% as opposed to 2.7 million tons in the same period of previous fiscal year.
There was, however, a substantial decline of around 29.1% in exports from the south as volumes reduced to 2.34 million tons in the first five months of current fiscal year compared to 3.3 million tons during the corresponding period of last year.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 7th, 2021.
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