LAHORE: Total cement despatches dropped 4.2 percent to 4.59 million tonnes in December from 4.79 million in December 2020 due to slowdown in construction activities.
Cement dispatches registered declining trend in December 2021 as the total cement dispatches went down by 4.2 percent stood at 4.59 million tons against 4.79 million tons of the corresponding period of the last fiscal year.
All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA) data showed that the local cement dispatches by the industry in December 2021 were 4.057 million tons compared to 4.159 million tons in December 2020, showing a drop of 2.45 percent. Exports dispatches declined by 15.61 percent as the volumes reduced to 538,002 tons in December 2021 from 637,511 tons in December 2020.
North based cement mills dispatched 3.377 million tons cement in domestic markets showing a reduction of 2.71 percent against 3.471 million tons dispatches in the same period last of 2020.
The South based mills dispatched 680,126 tons cement in local markets that was 1.15 percent less compared to the dispatches of 688,056 tons.
Exports from North based mills massively declined by 77.35 percent to 27,885 tons in December 2021. Exports from the South are slightly fell by 0.84 percent to 510,117 tons in December 2021.
During the first six months of the current fiscal year, total cement dispatches (domestic and exports) fell 4.12 percent to 27.456 million from 28.637 million tons dispatched during the corresponding period of previous fiscal year.
Domestic uptake of the commodity slightly increased by 1.91 percent to 24.065 million tons from 23.615 million tons during July-December 2020, whereas exports during the same period declined by a massive 32.47 percent to 3.391 million tons from 5.021 million tons during July-December 2020.
North based mills dispatched 20.163 million tons cement domestically during the first six months of the current fiscal year showing a slight reduction of
0.32 percent than cement dispatches of 20.228 million tons during July-December 2020.
Exports from North declined by 55.08 percent to 543,888 tons during July-December 2021 compared with 1.210 million tons exported during the same period last year.
Aggregate dispatches (domestic plus exports) in north were 20.706 million tons that calculates to 3.42 percent lower than 21.439 million tons dispatched during the corresponding period of last fiscal year.
Domestic dispatches by South based mills during July-December2021 were 3.902 million tons showing an increase of 15.23 percent over 3.386 million tons cement dispatched during the same period of last fiscal year.
There was however substantial decline of around 25.29 percent in exports from south zone as the volumes reduced to 2.847 million tons in the first six months of current fiscal year from 3.810 million tons during corresponding period of last fiscal year.
Combined dispatches (domestic plus exports) in south were 6.749 million tons that calculates to 6.22 percent lower than 7.197 million tons dispatched during the corresponding period of last fiscal year.
The prices of the cement is also went down upto Rs 15/bag following a decline in local cement consumption due to slow down in construction activities in winter season.
The cement was sold at Rs700/740 per bag. Further, the industry is also expecting more correction in the prices in January due the slow down construction activities.
