News Desk |
According to All Pakistan Cement Manufacturer Association (APCMA), total dispatches from Pakistan’s cement mills in the first five months of this fiscal July-Nov 2018 stood at 19.253Mt against dispatches of 18.513Mt achieved during the corresponding period of last financial year. This represents a four percent YoY growth.
Of this total, the domestic dispatches during July-November 2018 stood at 16.283Mt compared with dispatches of 16.434Mt recorded in July-November 2017. The net decline in domestic demand is set against a background of increasing industry capacity.
Large-scale manufacturing, which accounts for 80 percent of the industrial sector, declined 1.1 percent during the first three months of the current fiscal year.
Exports in 5MFY17-18 stood at 2.079Mt, representing an increase of over 42 percent in the 5MFY18-19 to 2.969Mt. In November 2018 cement industry dispatches reached at 3.899Mt of cement, down one percent when compared with 3.941Mt of cement dispatched during the corresponding month of last year.
The breakdown showed that plants located in the northern region of the country dispatched 2.871Mt of cement in November 2018 compared with 3.245Mt in November 2017. Local cement dispatches in November 2018 were 2.632Mt, down from 2.967Mt in November 2017. The region also failed to register growth in exports which decreased from 0.278Mt in November 2017 to 0.239Mt in November 2018.
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The mills operating in the southern part of the country dispatched 1.029Mt of cement in November 2018 compared with 0.696Mt produced in November 2017. Local dispatches from the region grew from 0.626Mt in November 2017 to 0.705Mt in November 2018 while exports also shot up to 0.324 Mt from 0.070Mt in November 2017.
Pakistan’s cement industry recorded a negative growth of 1.41 percent during first three months of FY18-19, ended 30 September 2018, as production fell from 9.332Mt of cement to 9.2Mt, apparently due to lack of local demand and other issues, reports Pakistan Federal Bureau of Statistics (FBS).
However, in September 2018 alone, cement production increased by 10.7 percent to 3.144Mt from 2.84Mt in September 2017.
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According to the All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA), industry utilized only 79.8 percent of its capacity in the first quarter compared with the average capacity utilization of 87 percent during the previous three years.
Meanwhile, Finance Minister, Asad Umar, has asked the officials to reckon with the causes of falling industrial growth and take measures to arrest the decline in large-scale manufacturing (LSM). Large-scale manufacturing, which accounts for 80 percent of the industrial sector, declined 1.1 percent during the first three months of the current fiscal year.