Cement exports dip over 13% to $66.7 million

October 24, 2019: The export of cement during the first quarter of the current financial year (2019-20) witnessed a decline of 13.94 percent as compared to the corresponding period of last year.

The cement exports from the country were recorded at $66.776 million during July-September (2019-20) as against the exports of $77.594 million during July-September (2018-19), showing negative growth of 13.94 percent, according to the latest data issued by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

In terms of quantity, the exports of cement decreased by 9.64 percent from 1,782,039 metric tons to 1,610,242 metric tons, according to the data.

Meanwhile, on a year-on-year basis, the cement exports witnessed a decline of 15.25 percent during the month of September 2019 when compared to the same month of last year.

The cement exports in September 2019 were recorded at $ 24.626 million against the exports of $29 million in September 2018, the PBS data revealed.    

On a month-on-month basis also, the export of cement decreased by 47.06 percent in September 2019 when compared to the exports of $16.7 million in August 2019.

It is pertinent to mention here that the country's merchandise trade deficit plunged by 34.8 percent during the first three months of the current fiscal year (2019-20) as compared to the deficit of the same month of last year.

The trade deficit during July-September (2019-20) was recorded at $5.7 billion against the deficit of $8.791 billion during July-September (2018-19).

The exports increased from $5.3 billion last year to $5.5 billion during the current fiscal year, showing a growth of 2.75 percent.

On the other hand, the imports into the country witnessed a decline of 20.6 percent by falling from $14.1 billion last year to $11.2 billion during the current fiscal year, the data revealed.

APP