Cement dispatches decline 7.91% in FY22

LAHORE: The cement dispatches declined 7.91 per cent to 52.89 million tonnes during fiscal year 2021/22, compared with 57.43 million tonnes during 2020/21.

The domestic uptake during fiscal year 2022 reduced 1 per cent to 47.63 million tonnes from 48.11 million tonnes during fiscal year 2021, whereas the exports during the same period massively declined 43.57 per cent to 5.25 million tonnes from 9.31 million tonnes during 2020/21.

Cement dispatches increased 1.01 per cent in June 2022 as the total cement dispatches during June 2022 were 5.26 million tonnes against 5.21 million tonnes dispatched during the same month of last fiscal year.

According to the data released by All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA), the local cement dispatches during June were 4.97 million tonnes compared with 4.66 million tonnes in June 2021, showing an increase of 6.66 per cent.

Exports dispatches suffered a decline of 47.57 per cent as the volumes reduced to 284,471 tonnes in June 2022 from 542,622 tonnes in June 2021.

During the month under review, north based cement mills dispatched 4.12 million tonnes of cement in the domestic market, showing an increase of 6.8 per cent against 3.85 million tonnes dispatched in June 2021.

South based mills dispatched 856,863 tonnes cement in the local market during June 2022 that was 5.98 per cent higher compared with the dispatches of 808,490 tonnes during June 2021.

Exports from north based mills declined 51.79 per cent as the quantities reduced from 201,540 tonnes in June 2021 to 97,163 tonnes in June 2022.

Exports from the south also reduced 45.08 per cent to 187,308 tonnes in June 2022 from 341,082 tonnes during the same month last year.

North based mills dispatched 39.44 million tonnes of cement domestically during the fiscal year 2021/22, showing a reduction of 2.81 per cent compared with cement dispatches of 40.58 million tonnes during 2020/21.

Exports from the north declined 64.52 per cent to 910,685 tonnes during 2021/22 compared with 2.56 million tonnes exported during the last fiscal year.

The domestic dispatches by south based mills during 2021/22 were 8.19 million tonnes, showing an increase of 8.74 per cent compared with 7.53 million tonnes of cement dispatched during the same period of last fiscal year.

There was however a substantial decline of around 35.6 per cent in exports from the south zone as the volumes reduced to 4.34 million tonnes in the fiscal year 2021/22 from 6.74 million tonnes during last fiscal year.

The APCMA spokesman expressed concerns over the uncertainty in the government’s policies. He said that the industry is going through difficult times due to the historical high prices of fuel, electricity, coal and other raw materials.

Due to the high cost of production, the prices of cement will continue to increase in the local market, he said, adding that the export of cement declined massively during the ongoing financial year due to high cost of production while urging the government to devise a policy to help the cement industry in exporting the product.