Cement dispatches drop by 4% YoY in September 2023

October 03, 2023 (MLN): Cement dispatches declined by 3.96% YoY to 4.115 million tons in Sep 2023, as compared to 4.284m tons in the same month of last fiscal year, said a press release issued by All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA).

Local cement dispatches by the industry during the month of Sep 2023 were 3.54m tons compared to 3.806m tons in Sep 2022, showing a decline of 6.87%.

Export dispatches increased by 19.24% as the volumes rose from 478,097 tons in Sep 2022 to 570,101 tons in Sep 2023.

In Sep 2023, North-based cement mills dispatched 3.035m tons of cement showing a decline of 7% against 3.264 million tons of dispatches in Sep 2022.

South-based mills dispatched 1.079m tons of cement during Sep 2023 which was 5.79% more compared to the dispatches of 1.020m tons during Sep 2022.

North-based cement mills dispatched 2.893m tons of cement in domestic markets in Sep 2023 showing a decline of 7.79% against 3.137m tons dispatches in Sep 2022.

South-based mills dispatched 651,287 tons of cement in local markets during Sep 2023 which was 2.58% less compared to the dispatches of 668,512 during Sep 2022.

Exports from North-based mills increased by 12.43% as the quantities increased from 126,502 tons in Sep 2022 to 142,226 tons in Sep 2023.

Exports from the South also increased by 21.70% to 427,875 tons in Sep 2023 from 351,595 tons during the same month last year.

During the1QFY24, total cement dispatches (domestic and exports) were 11.873m tons which is 23.40% more than the 9.621m tons dispatched during the corresponding period of last fiscal year.

Domestic dispatches during this period were 10.122 million tons against 8.602m tons during SPLY showing an increase of 17.67%.

Export dispatches were also 71.79% more as the volumes increased to 1.751m tons during the 1QFY24 compared to 1.019m tons of exports done during 1QFY23.

North-based Mills dispatched 8.333m tons of cement domestically during the 1QFY24 showing an increase of 14.80% from cement dispatches of 7.259m tons during the first quarter of the last fiscal year.

Exports from the North also increased by 48.33% to 428,235 tons during July-Sep 2023 compared with 288,712 tons exported during the same period last year.

Total dispatches by North-based Mills increased by 16.08% to 8.762 million tons in 3MFY24 from 7.548 million tons during 3MFY23

Domestic dispatches by South-based Mills during July-Sep 2023 were 1.789m tons showing an increase of 33.18% over 1.343m tons cement dispatched during the same period of last fiscal year.

Exports from the South also increased by 81.07% to 1.322m tons during July-Sep 2023 compared with 0.730m tons exported during the same period last year.

Total dispatches by South-based Mills increased by 50.05% to 3.111m tons during the first three months of the current financial year from 2.073 million tons during the same period of the last financial year.

A spokesman of the All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association mentioned that the industry has immense potential to grab export markets provided the government gives relief in duties and taxes to curb the cost of production to make our product competitive in international markets.

Coal is a major cost element and its import duty, which is 5% at present, needs to be abolished. We are also seriously concerned with the rising power tariff and petroleum prices, he added.

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