ISLAMABAD: Cement sales continued to increase during February, although its exports couldn’t rebound due to weakening competitiveness in the international market.
According to the data released by All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA), Pakistan’s total cement despatches increased 1.98pc to 4.577 million tonnes in February 2021, as against 4.489 million tonnes in the same month of last year,
Local cement despatches clocked in at 3.961 million tonnes in February 2021 compared to 3.735 million tonnes in February 2020, depicting a growth of 6.06pc. Exports, however, continued with the downtrend as seen during last the three months, dropping 18.24pc from 753,444 tonnes in February 2020 to 616,030 tonnes in February 2021.
During the month under review, the north-based factories despatched 3.28 million tonnes of cement locally, showing an increase of 3.32pc from 3.17 million tonnes in February 2020. On the other hand, the south based mills despatched 683,384 tonnes of cement for local consumption, which was 21.49pc higher than 562,501 tonnes despatched in February 2020.
Meanwhile, exports from north-based mills decreased by 7.71pc to 186,595 tonnes in February 2021 from 202,181 tonnes in February 2020, whereas exports from southern mills decreased 22.10pc to 429,435 tonnes in February 2021 from 551,263 tonnes in February 2020.
Overall, total cement despatches (domestic and exports) during the first eight months (July-Feb) of the current fiscal year (FY21) were recorded at 37.95 million tonnes, which was 13.92pc more than 33.31 million tonnes cement despatched during the corresponding period of the last fiscal year.
Local despatches increased by 15.51pc during the period under review to 31.62 million tonnes from 27.37 million tonnes during same period of the last fiscal year. Similarly, exports increased from 5.94 million tonnes in 8MFY20 to 6.33 million tonnes in 8MFY21, depicting a growth of 6.62pc.
During the July-Feb FY21 period, north-based mills despatched 26.82 million tonnes of cement for domestic consumption as against 23.26 million tonnes last year (+15.29pc YoY). Exports from north were recorded at 1.63 million tonnes, showing a decline of 9.83pc over 1.81 million tonnes in the same period of last fiscal year.
Likewise, south-based mills despatched 4.79 million tonnes in the domestic market during the first eight months of current fiscal year, which was 16.73pc higher than 4.11 million tonnes despatched during the corresponding period of the last fiscal year. Exports from the south clocked in at 4.70 million tonnes, registering an increase of 13.82pc over exports of 4.13 million tonnes during the same period of last year.
