A Bloomberg report has claimed that the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor has led to a major resurgence and boom for the Pakistani cement industry. As cited in the report, it is expected that Pakistan’s cement production capacity will rise from 56m tons to 70m tons within a span of five years.
It said that a $9.6b expansion of the national roads network like the Karakoram Highway and the $35b investment in power projects has fueled the use of cement and led to a construction boom under CPEC. The report also mentioned that cement producers like Gharibwal Cement is doubling their capacity by August to more than 13,000 tons a day due to a rise in demand for CPEC projects.
Bloomberg said that the cement stocks of 21 companies rose by 47pc in the last one year compared to the KSE-100 index’s 34pc gain annually. Pakistan ranks among the 12 top growing construction markets globally and will grow at a yearly rate of 12pc over the next five years. Domestic consumption has increased, leading to a fall in exports of 19c. The cement capacity utilization also went up to reach 88pc in the current financial year 2016-17 indicating local usage of the commodity has gone up.
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