ISLAMABAD: Cement dispatches declined by 4.2 per cent in December 2021, totaling 4.59 million tonnes (MT) during the month against 4.79 MT dispatched during the same month of the last fiscal year.
According to data by the All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA), export dispatches declined by 15.61pc, with volumes reducing to 538,002 tonnes from 637,511 tonnes in December 2021 on a year-on-year (YoY) basis.
However, reduction in demand on local level remained at 2.45pc as local dispatches during December 2021 were 4.057 MT compared to 4.159 MT in December 2020.
According to the data, exports of north-based mills declined by 77.35pc as the quantities reduced from 123,089 tonnes in December 2020 to 27,885 tonnes in December 2021. However, exports from the south slightly reduced by 0.84pc to 510,117 tonnes in December 2021 from 514,422 tonnes during the same month last year.
On the local front, north-based mills dispatched 3.377 MT of cement, showing a reduction of 2.71pc against 3.471 MT in December 2020 while south-based mills dispatched 680,126 tonnes cement in local markets during December 2021 that was 1.15pc less compared to the dispatches of 688,056 tonnes during December 2020.
On the other hand, during the first six months of the current fiscal year (6MFY22), total cement dispatches were 27.456 MT, down 4.12pc than the 28.637 million tonnes dispatched during the corresponding period of last fiscal year.
The data showed that domestic uptake of the commodity slightly increased by 1.91pc to 24.065 MT from 23.615 MT during July-December 2020 whereas exports during the same period declined by a massive 32.47 percent to 3.391 MT from 5.021 MT during July-December 2020.
