The increasing construction activities of mega housing projects in the public and private sectors have pushed up the sales of cement in the local market, showing an increase of 4.19% in July 2015 as compared to the previous financial year.

According to the statistics of All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers’ Association (APCMA), the cement sales to domestic markets increased by 4.19% to 1.8 million tonnes as compared to 1.73 million tonnes
during the same month
last year.

However, the expected growth of cement sales could not pick up due to rains and floods in many parts of the country, which temporarily ceased the construction activities of different projects.

The domestic despatches in the north zone stand at 1.520 million tonnes as compared to 1.42 million tonnes of July 2014 and in the south zone, it reached 0.279 million tonnes as against 0.309 million tonnes of July 2014.

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) reported that the contribution of the cement sector in large-scale manufacturing (LSM) grew by 11% during July to March 2014-15 as compared with 0.5% in 2013-14.

While the construction and allied industries (cement, steel) recorded a strong growth, other industries (chemical, wood and glass) having a small share in LSM index, experienced a slowdown, as new and large entrants have out competed smaller units, the central bank reported on the State of Pakistan’s Economy.

The exports of cement continued to disappoint, standing at 465,000 tonnes against 503,000 tonnes during July 14, showing reduction of 7.45%. Total despatches during July 15 were 2.26 million tonnes as compared to 2.23 million tonnes during the same month last year, showing an increase of 1.56%.

The exports from north zone were 274,000 tonnes while exports from south zone were 192,000 tonnes. In July 2014, the cement exports from north were 295,000 tonnes and from south were 208,000 tonnes.

While the exports to Afghanistan declined to 178,000 tonnes during July 15 as compared to 184,000 tonnes during July 14, major decline was observed in exports to India that showed substantial reduction to 43,000 tonnes during July 15 against 63,000 tonnes during the same month last year, showing a downfall of around 32%.