Cement despatches jump 7% YoY in November

December 07, 2021 (MLN): Cement despatches witnessed an increase of 7% YoY in November 2021 to stand at 4.82 million tons, according to the data released by the All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA) on Monday.

Amid an improvement in construction activity, the local cement despatches by the industry during the month of November 2021 were 4.124m tons compared to 3.742m tons in November 2020, showing a jump of 10.2%.  

Exports despatches, however, suffered a decline of 9.2% as the volumes reduced from 766,273 tons in November 2020 to 695,779 tons in November 2021 on the back of higher freight rates.

In November 2021, despatches from the north-based mills amounted to 3.469 million tons cement in local markets, depicting a decline of 10.87% against 3.129m tons despatches in November 2020. The South-based mills despatched 654,983 tons of cement in local markets during November 2021 that was 6.83% higher compared to the despatches of 613,113 tons during November 2020.

During the first five months (July-November) of the ongoing fiscal year, overall cement sales edged lower by 4.1% YoY to clock in at 22.86m tonnes. This decline is primarily attributed to falling local currency against the US dollar, a research note by Aba Ali Habib said.

Meanwhile, local despatches increased by 3% to 20m tonnes during 5MFY22 from 19.455m tonnes a year ago, whereas exports fell by 35% to 2.853m tonnes as opposed to 4.384m a year ago. North-based cement mills despatched 16.785m tonnes domestically during the period, registering a nominal increase of 0.17% on a yearly basis. Exports from these mills nearly halved to 516,003 tonnes during July-November FY22 from 1.087m tonnes in the year-ago period due to restrictions in business activities on the Afghan border.

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