Cement despatches surge to record 5.21m tonnes in Sept

LAHORE: The cement sector has achieved the highest ever despatches in September 2020, as the total despatches during the month were recorded at 5.213 million tones, as against the despatches of 4.273 million tonnes in September 2019.

The local uptake of cement in September 2020 increased by 17.65pc to 4.089 million tonnes from 3.475 million tonnes in September 2019, while exports registered an increase of 40.95pc, increasing to 1.124 million tonnes from 0.797 million tonnes in the same month last year.

In the north region, domestic cement despatches increased by 16.30pc to 3.523 million tonnes in September 2020, from 3.029 million tonnes in September 2019. Exports from the north increased by 9.27pc to 0.287 million tonnes in September 2020, from 0.263 million tonnes in September 2019.

There was a positive growth in the southern region as well where the domestic cement despatches increased by 26.84pc to 565,236 tonnes from 445,629 tonnes in September 2019. Exports from the south continued to grow, increasing by 56.53pc to 837,033 tonnes in September this year from 534,751 tonnes last year.

Total cement despatches during the July-Sept quarter increased by 21.88pc to 13.573 million tonnes from 11.136 million tonnes in July-Sep 2019. Domestic despatches registered a healthy increase of 18.84pc, increasing from 9.120 million tonnes to 10.837 million tonnes. Exports also showed encouraging growth, increasing by 35.67pc, from 2.016 million tonnes to 2.735 million tonnes.

According to APCMA, the cement industry in Pakistan has made huge investments in new plants and machinery during the last few years, which has helped the consumer the availability of cement at very competitive rates compared to other countries in the region.

Cement, which is a basic commodity required to play an important role in the development of the country, is subject to very high taxes including Federal Excise Duty of Rs1,500 per tonne equivalent to Rs75 per bag.

The recent construction package announced by the Prime Minister Imran Khan has helped the industry in terms of growth and is fully aligned to support the government in its efforts to restart the development and reindustrialization.

“Although the cement industry faced huge losses during the financial year 2019-2020, the recent raid by Competition Commission of Pakistan was a demoralizing action against industry,” it added.

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