Pakistan: The cement industry saw a slight decrease in cement dispatches in April 2024, falling to 2.94Mt from 2.95Mt in April 2023, according to data from the All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association. Despite an 8% fall in local sales to 2.33Mt, an increase in exports by 46% to 614,264t in April 2024 partially offset this decline. Specifically, north-based plants saw a 4.8% reduction in dispatches to 2.1Mt in April 2024, while south-based plants experienced a 12.7% year-on-year increase to 854,911t. Export volumes also reflected regional differences, with north-based exports increasing by 73% and south-based by 39%. In the 2024 financial year so far, total cement dispatches have risen by 2.5% to 37.5Mt, driven by a 65.4% increase in export dispatches to 5.72Mt compared to April 2023. However, domestic sales have declined by 4.1% to 31.7Mt. The north-based plants dispatched 26.2Mt domestically, a 3.6% year-on-year decrease, while south-based plants dispatched 5.55Mt, down by 6.5% from April 2023. A spokesman for the All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association said "The government needs to announce industry-friendly measures in the upcoming budget that can boost construction activities in the country. We need to increase our capacity utilisation to bring in economies of scale and to control our operations costs in order to reduce the overall impact on the end consumer.” /Global Cement