In order to compensate for the lost market share of cement exports to Kenya, South Africa, Mozambique and Tanzania, manufacturers have started looking for alternative markets to sell their cement in. The manufacturers are considering Philippines as an attractive market for exporting cement, since the latter’s economy has shown signs of recovering. The country’s cement exports to Sri Lanka stand at 1m tons, considering that competitors from India and Iran are vying for a market share there.
Pakistan exports around 250,000 to 300,000 tons via sea to the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. At one point of time exports via sea to Mumbai and through Wagah border to the Indian state of Punjab were very high. Pakistan annual cement exports to India are around 1m tons and in the first nine months of the current financial year 2016-17, exports have reached 920,349 tons.
Besides Afghanistan and India, Pakistan’s cement exports to other countries have been constantly decreasing since 2008-09, when it was around 6m tons. A few years ago Pakistan’s cement exports to Afghanistan were around 5m tonnes and have decreased to 2m tons. During 2015-16, cement exports to Afghanistan were recorded at 2.44m tons and for the first nine months of the current financial year 2016-17 it stood at 1.47m tons.
During the first nine months of the current financial year 2016-17, total cement exports were recorded at 3.64m in comparison to 4.56m a year ago, as per the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS). Total exports will largely remain unchanged and will be in the region of 5 to 6m tonnes. A lull in construction activity has been recorded in Punjab since most of the labourers have gone for wheat harvesting according to the official. There has been a cut in price of cement bags by manufacturers of around Rs 15-20 due to increase in capacity expansion and a decrease in demand. However, the prices on the retail front didn’t see any revision.
