LAHORE: Pakistan’s cement industry reported a 9.48% decline in total despatches during March 2025, according to data released by the All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association on Saturday.
Total cement despatches, including domestic sales and exports, stood at 3.569 million tons in March 2025 compared to 3.944 million tons in March 2024. Domestic sales dropped by 11.31% to 2.961 million tons from 3.338 million tons, while exports remained relatively steady at 608,614 tons against 605,142 tons a year earlier.
North-based mills saw a 14.54% decline in despatches, falling to 2.450 million tons from 2.866 million tons. South-based mills, however, recorded a slight increase of 3.96%, despatching 1.12 million tons compared to 1.07 million tons last year. In the domestic market, North-based mills sold 2.431 million tons, down 11.33% from last year, while South-based mills’ local sales fell 11.23% to 529,750 tons.
Export performance varied sharply between the regions. North-based mills saw their exports crash by 85.15%, with volumes plunging to 18,508 tons from 124,672 tons. Meanwhile, South-based mills increased their exports by 22.82%, reaching 590,106 tons compared to 480,470 tons last year.
During the first nine months of the current fiscal year, total cement despatches stood at 33.993 million tons, 1.48% lower than the 34.503 million tons recorded during the same period of the previous year. Domestic sales during this period dropped by 6.61% to 27.461 million tons from 29.403 million tons, while exports rose by 28.08% to 6.532 million tons from 5.10 million tons.
North-based mills reported domestic despatches of 22.791 million tons during July-March 2025, a decline of 5.96% compared to 24.236 million tons a year earlier. Their exports increased by 7.76% to 1.12 million tons. Overall despatches from North-based mills decreased by 5.40% to 23.911 million tons from 25.276 million tons.
South-based mills recorded domestic despatches of 4.669 million tons, showing a 9.63% decline from 5.167 million tons last year. However, their exports rose sharply by 33.28% to 5.419 million tons compared to 4.061 million tons previously. Total despatches by South-based mills during the nine months increased by 9.26% to 10.081 million tons from 9.227 million tons.
