Cement supply continued declining in January with a 16.58 per cent decrease mainly due to cost of production and shortage of containers for exports.
According to the data released by All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA), total cement despatches during January 2022 were 3.95 million tons against 4.73 million tons despatched during the same month of last fiscal year. The cement despatches are showing a declining trend for the past few months.
The local cement despatches by the industry during the month of January 2022 were 3.4 million tons compared to 4.04 million tons in January 2021, showing a reduction of 15.87per cent.Â
Exports despatches suffered a massive decline by 20.71per cent as the volumes reduced from 694,934 tons in January 2021 to 551,006 tons in January 2022.
In January 2022, north based cement mills despatched 2.707 million tons cement in domestic markets showing a reduction of 18.29per cent against 3.313 million tons despatches in January 2021.Â
South based mills despatched 693,453 tons cement in local markets during January 2022 that was 4.82per cent less compared to the despatches of 728,568 tons during January 2021.
Exports from north based mills massively declined by 94.12per cent as the quantities reduced from 233,404 tons in January 2021 to 13,727 tons in January 2022. Exports from the south, however, increased by 16.41per cent to 537,279 tons in January 2022 from 461,530 tons during the same month last year.
During the first seven months of the current fiscal year, total cement despatches (domestic and exports) were 31.4 million tons, which calculates to 5.89per cent lower than 33.37 million tons despatched during the corresponding period of last fiscal year.Â
Further analysis indicate that domestic uptake of the commodity reduced by 0.69per cent to 27.465 million tons from 27.657 million tons during July-January 2021 whereas exports during the same period declined by a massive 31.04per cent to 3.94 million tons from 5.71 million tons during July-January2021.
