Total cement despatches during February 2022 were 4.36 million tons against 4.57 million tons despatched during the same month of last fiscal year—a 4.75 per cent decline.
According to the data released by All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA), local cement despatches by the industry during the month of February 2022 were 3.95 million tons compared to 3.96 million tons in February 2021, showing a reduction of 0.17per cent.
Exports despatches suffered massive decline by 34.18 per cent as the volumes reduced from 616,030 tons in February 2021 to 405,489 tons in February 2022.
In February 2022, North based cement mills despatched 3.214 million tons cement in domestic markets showing a reduction of 1.95 per cent against 3.278 million tons despatches in February 2021. South based mills despatched 740,595 tons cement in local markets during February 2022 that was 8.37 per cent higher compared to the despatches of 683,384 tons during February 2021.
Exports from North based mills massively declined by 78.08 percent as the quantities reduced from 186,595 tons in February 2021 to 40,902 tons in February 2022. Exports from South also reduced by 15.1 percent to 364,587 tons in February 2022from 429,435 tons during the same month last year.
During the first eight months of current fiscal year, total cement despatches (domestic and exports) were 35.78 million tons that calculates to 5.75 per cent lower than 37.95 million tons despatched during the corresponding period of last fiscal year.
Further analysis indicate that domestic uptake of the commodity reduced by 0.63 per cent to 31.42 million tons from 31.61 million tons during July-February 2021whereas exports during the same period declined by a massive 31.35 per cent to 4.34 million tons from 6.33 million tons during July-February 2021.
North based Mills despatched 26.08 million tons cement domestically during the first eight months of current fiscal year showing a reduction of 2.74 per cent than cement despatches of 26.82 million tons during July-February 2021. Exports from North declined by 63.3 per cent to 598,517 tons during July-February 2022 compared with 1.63 million tons exported during the same period last year.
Domestic despatches by South based Mills during July-February 2022 were 5.33 million tons showing an increase of 11.2 per cent over 4.79 million tons cement despatched during the same period of last fiscal year. There was however substantial decline of around 20.27 per cent in exports from south zone as the volumes reduced to 3.74 million tons in the first eight months of current fiscal year from 4.7 million tons during corresponding period of last fiscal year.
