LAHORE: The cement despatches in the country have increased by 10.55 per cent to 35.523 million tonnes during July 2015 to May 2016.
According to latest data released by the All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association, the growth in cement consumption has been led solely by domestic consumption. Statistics shows that the overall domestic despatches in north based mills increased by 16.64 percent to 24.667 million tonnes and in south based mills by 23.7 percent to 5.37 million tonnes. In total, the domestic demand increased by 17.84 percent during the eleven months of current fiscal year.
Quantitatively, total domestic despatches were 30.03 million tonnes from July 15 to May 16 compared to 25.49 million tonnes during same period of last fiscal year while exports dropped by 17.41 percent to 5.48 million tonnes during the first eleven months of current fiscal against 6.64 million tonnes during same period of last fiscal year.
Cement despatches to domestic markets during the month of May 2016 increased by 22.78 percent to 3.06 million tonnes compared with 2.49 million tonnes during same month last year. Exports during May 2016 were 558,000 tonnes against 560,000 tonnes during May, 15.
Total despatches during May, 16 were 3.622 million tonnes compared to 3.056 million tonnes during same month last year showing increase of 18.52 percent. Zone wise figures show that the domestic despatches by mills located in North were 2.5 million tonnes compared with despatches of 2.04 million tonnes during same month last fiscal depicting a growth of 22.31 percent. In South the domestic despatches were 563,942 tonnes compared with despatches of 451,521 tonnes in May 2015 depicting a growth of 24.9 percent.
A spokesman of All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA) said that increase in FED on cement is against the industry’s demand as we were seeking some reduction in taxes to further enhance domestic dispatches.
