Cement: Dispatches increase in December

Cement dispatches for December improve three per cent over November to reach 2.49 million tons.

Cement dispatches for the month of December 2010 improved three per cent to around 2.49 million tons, compared with sales in November, according to a research report issued by Topline Securities which cites data released by a local cement association.

“With reconstruction activities gradually gaining pace in flood-affected areas, local dispatches improved by three per cent month-on-month to 1.79 million tons,” wrote Furqan Punjani from Topline. Meanwhile, exports also increased three per cent to 0.7 million tons.

Accounting for these numbers, cement dispatches in the first half of the current fiscal (July to December 2010) fell by more than nine per cent to 15 million tons, compared with 16.6 million tons seen in the same period last year.

During the period exports eroded by more than 17 per cent to 4.6 million tons, while local dispatches fell to 10.4 million tons from the 11 million tons seen in the same period last fiscal year.

The drop in exports came on the back of declining sales to the Middle East and a complete halt in dispatches to India after the expiry of a quality assurance certificate from the Indian authorities.

“We believe cement dispatches will improve marginally in the second half of the current fiscal, with major contribution from local demand once reconstruction activities begin in flood-affected areas,” commented Punjani.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 4^th, 2011.