The News reported that the first month of the new fiscal year started on a sour note for the cement sector as the industry posted a decline of 1.64% in its dispatches compared with those for July 2011.

A spokesman of the All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association said that the local cement dispatches increased nominally by 1.47% in July 2012 to 2,054,213 tonnes compared with 2,024,407 tonnes in July 2011. However, there was a massive decline in exports to all destinations. Overall exports declined by 9.23%. In July 2011 total cement exports were 831,785 tonnes that fell by July 2012 to 755,010 tonnes.

Exports to Afghanistan declined by 10.37% to 455,897 tonnes in July 2012. Further exports to India declined by 12.77% to 54,233 tonnes and exports to other destinations fell by 6.16% to 244,880 tonnes. The electricity crisis and rains had adversely affected the domestic market in Punjab and KPK.

Dispatches from north based mills increased by only 0.71% while the dispatches of south based mills registered an increase of 4.22%. Sluggish construction activities in the northern region are a source of concern for the cement industry because the bulk of the capacity is located in the north.

The spokesman said on the export side the southern mills lost 17.84% exports in July 2012 compared with the corresponding period last year. In fact he added that the south has been losing export markets at an alarming pace during the past 6 months. Cement exports of north based mills declined by 7.02% mainly because of the high freight cost for export by sea.

Source - The News.com

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