Cement sales declined in the first four months of the ongoing fiscal year despite the increase in domestic sales as their exports dropped substantially.

The combined domestic and export sales figures stood at 18.029 million tonnes during July-October FY2022, which is a 6.68 percent drop as compared to the same period last year (19.331 million tonnes) according to data from the All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA).

The data showed that domestic sales grew by 1.1 percent to 15.882 million tonnes during the first four months of the current fiscal year from 15.713 million tonnes in the same period last year. Overall, the slight increase in sales was affected by a massive drop in the export of cement.

The exports were 2.157 million tonnes during the period from July to October in the ongoing year against 3.617 million tonnes during the same period last year, posting a whopping 40.4 percent drop in the exports.

A monthly analysis shows that sales dropped by 9.01 percent in October in the ongoing year and the sales stood at 5.214 million tonnes as compared to 5.735 million tonnes during the same month in the last fiscal year.

The trend has been attributed to declines in the monthly domestic sales and monthly exports of cement.

The APCMA noted that the cement industry has had a reduction of 5.29 percent in domestic sales. The domestic sales in October 2021 and October 2020 were 4.603 million tonnes and 4.859 million tonnes respectively. Likewise, the exports dropped by 30.09 percent to 611,884 tonnes in October 2021 from 875,266 tonnes in the same month of the previous fiscal year.

Based on the geographical breakdown, the mills in the north sold 3.831 million tonnes of cement in the domestic markets in October 2021, down 8.01 percent from 4.164 million tonnes last October.

The mills in the south sent 771,755 tonnes of cement to local markets in October 2021, posting an increase of 11.01 percent over the 695,221 tonnes shipped in October 2020.

Source: Pro Pakistani