LAHORE: Cement sales showed more than 6 per cent growth during the first seven months of this fiscal year over the corresponding period of last year.
“The most pleasant aspect of this growth is that it is led by domestic consumption which increased by 9.45pc,” said All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association’s spokesman. He said the cement manufacturers were expecting effective steps from the government for reducing the production cost to make the product competitive to increase its export.
Cement despatches increased by 6.18pc to 20.022 million tonnes during July-Jan period of 2014-15 compared with 18.857m tonnes in the corresponding period of last year.
Factories located in north showed robust growth in domestic sales which rose by 10.63pc to 12.948m tonnes in the period under review against 11.703m tonnes in the same period last. However, exports dipped by 11.49pc to 2.782m tonnes against 3.143m tonnes in the corresponding period last year.
The domestic despatches by south-based factories registered a growth of 3.76pc to 2.537m tonnes in July-Jan period of this fiscal year over 2.444m tonnes in the same period last year. However exports showed robust growth of 12.18pc to 1.756m tonnes from 1.565m tonnes in corresponding period of last year.
Weekly inflation rises 0.15pc, annual rate reaches 9.11pc
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s weekly inflation increased by 0.15%, pushing the annual inflation rate to 9.11%, according to the latest report released...
