Pakistan cement industry ended fiscal 2017-18 on a jubilant note, posting yearly growth of 13.84%; with domestic consumption increasing by 15.42% and exports inching up by 1.77% – first time in nine years that exports registered growth. According to data released by All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers’ Association (APCMA), during the fiscal year 2017-2018, domestic consumption stood at 41.147 million tons, an increase of 15.42% from 35.651 million tons in 2016-2017.

Bullish trend in cement dispatches continued unabated in April 2018 and buoyancy in exports was an icing on the cake as exports increased for the second month by over 81 percent as sector posted highest capacity utilization. According to data released by All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA), the industry dispatched 4.237 million tons of cement in April 2018 that was 17.46 percent higher than the dispatches of 3.576 million tons achieved during the corresponding month of last fiscal.

Domestic consumption of cement increased by a whopping 37.3 percent in January 2018 on year-on-year basis as the construction activities continued to lead the economy and employment of both skilled and unskilled workforce of the Pakistan. However, the dismal performance of exports remained the achilles’ heels of cement industry as the exports went down by 7.82 percent from 0.376 million tons in January 2017 to 0.347 million tons in January 2018.

Cement consumption continued to surge in October 2017 as the monthly despatches of the commodity reached a record high of 4.222 million tons, which is 19.71 percent higher than 3.526 million tons despatches in October 2016. The total despatches of cement in the country has reached 14.570 million tons in the first four months of 2017-18 that is 16.53 percent higher than the despatches of 12.503 million tons during the corresponding four months of last fiscal.

Uptake of cement in the domestic market accelerated to 10.90 percent in May 2017 while exports continue to mar the performance of the cement sector registering a decline of 44.58 percent in May 2017, the fourth massive decline in exports which declined by 45.69 percent in February, 60.39 percent in March and 50.75 percent in April.