According to the All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers (APCMA), the country would need to maintain infrastructure activities for 10 years to be able to lessen the infrastructure gap with other competing economies. The thriving domestic market and increasing demand endorse the manufacturer’s decision of expanding their capacities.
Data shared by the APCMA discloses that the cement despatches had reached their highest ever levels of 30.304m tons in the first nine months of the current financial year 2016-17. According to experts, this number may have been even higher if the under-invoicing and smuggling of cement had been regulated. Despatches of cement had reached 3.96m tons by March 2017 in comparison to 3.58m tons in the same month a year ago.
According to the APCMA spokesman, the cement manufactured in Pakistan was of high quality and it was preferred in Indian Punjab over the one available there locally. He mentioned that our planners had failed in persuading the Indian side on eliminating tariff and non-tariff barriers.
The spokesman also added that cost of the commodity was rising due to high duties on cement and was harming the consumer. The decrease in duties could help the manufacturers in reducing cement cost and assist in increasing construction activities, enable job creation for the unskilled and skilled labour.
