According to the data released by All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA), local cement dispatches by the industry during the month of November2021 were 4.124 million tons compared to 3.742 million tons in November 2020, showing an increase of 10.21 percent. Exports despatchers suffered decline by 9.2 percent as the volumes reduced from 766,273 tons in November 2020 to 695,779 tons in November 2021.

In November2021, North based cement mills dispatched 3.469 million tons cement in domestic markets showing an increase of 10.87 percent against 3.129 million tons despatchers in November2020. The South based mills dispatched 654,983 tons cement in local markets during November2021 that was 6.83 percent higher compared to the despatchers of 613,113 tons during November2020.

Exports from North based mills massively declined by 69.67 percent as the quantities reduced from 182,091 tons in November2020 to 55,234 tons in November2021. Exports from the South increased by 9.65 percent to 640,545 tons in November 2021 from 584,182 tons during the same month last year.

During the first five months of current fiscal year, total cement dispatches (domestic and exports) were 22.86 million tons that calculates to4.11 percent lower than 23.83 million tons dispatched during the corresponding period of last fiscal year. Further analysis indicate that domestic uptake of the commodity slightly increased by 2.84 percent to 20.007 million tons from 19.455 million tons during July-November 2020 whereas exports during the same period declined by a massive 34.92 percent to 2.853 million tons from 4.384 million tons during July-November 2020.

North based Mills dispatched 16.785 million tons cement domestically during the first five months of current fiscal year showing a very marginal increase of 0.17 percent than cement dispatches of 16.757 million tons during July-November 2020. Exports from North declined by 52.56 percent to 516,003 tons during July-November2021 compared with 1.087 million tons exported during the same period last year.

Domestic dispatches by South based Mills during July-November2021 were 3.22 million tons showing an increase of 19.4 percent over 2.698 million tons cement dispatched during the same period of last fiscal year. There was however substantial decline of around 29.1 percent in exports from south zone as the volumes reduced to 2.337 million tons in the first five months of current fiscal year from 3.296 million tons during corresponding period of last fiscal year.