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LAHORE:
An essential construction material, cement, is losing strength as its sales dropped 23.98% in August 2022. Total cement dispatches in the month came in at 3.296 million tons against 4.336 million tons in the same month of last year.
According to data released by the All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA), local cement sales by the industry stood at 2.90 million tons in August 2022, compared to 3.81 million tons in August 2021, showing a decline of 23.75%.
Exports of cement suffered a decline of 25.70% as volumes shrank from 521,468 tons in August 2021 to 387,440 tons in August 2022.
In August 2022, north-based cement mills sold 2.59 million tons, down 20.93% from sales of 3.28 million tons in the same month of last year. Mills based in the south dispatched 700,436 tons to markets, lower by 33.50% compared to 1.05 million tons last year.
Cumulatively, in the first two months (July-August) of current fiscal year, total cement sales were 5.336 million tons, which were 35.20% lower than sales of 8.235 million tons in the corresponding period of last year.
Domestic sales during the two-month period came in at 4.795 million tons against 7.261 million tons in the same period of last year, showing a fall of 33.95%. Export dispatches were 44.47% lower as volumes reduced to 540,957 tons in July-August 2022 compared to 974,245 tons last year.
An APCMA spokesperson emphasised that “it is the need of the hour that the government comes up with industry-friendly policies”.
“A massive reduction in cement demand is due to economic instability, soaring energy costs and currency devaluation. These are the factors that have serious implications for the industry,” he said.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 3rd, 2022.
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