Karachi: The decline in exports to India continues unabated where the uptake of Pakistani cement reduced by 38.50 percent during the first five months of this fiscal. During July Nov 2011 last year, Pakistan exported 298,214 tons of cement to India which reduced to 183,387 tons this year.
Although cement sector posted a healthy export growth of 11.71 percent in November 2012, India was the only exporting destination where exports declined in November as well. Pakistan exported 45,096 tons of cement to India in November 2011 which declined alarmingly to only 25,207 tons in November 2012.
The cement sector of Pakistan otherwise showed healthy growth in the month of November, as for the first time this fiscal, both domestic consumption and cement exports posted double digit growth, on year to year basis.
Total cement despatches at 2.649 million tons during the month of November were however, lower than dispatch of 2.766 million tons, a month earlier. However, when compared to November 2011 when the total cement despatches were 2.255 million tons, the sales in the month of November 2012 were higher by 19.63%. Traditionally, cement despatches in October are higher than in November.
Market analysts term the current domestic market situation encouraging as during past five months of this fiscal, the local consumption has increased in four months and declined only in August by 3.41 percent. The local uptake of the commodity increased in two months out of five during this fiscal by over 19 percent. The first time it posted over 19 percent growth was in September 2012 and the second time in November 2012. The overall growth in local despatches during the first 5 months of this fiscal was 6.78 percent.
The cement exports from South zone during July-Nov 2011 were 0.986 million tons that declined in July-Nov 2012 to 0.837 million tons depicting an overall reduction of 15.06 percent. The cement exports from North zone declined nominally by 0.64 percent during this period to 2.804 million tons from 2.823 million tons in the first five months of this fiscal.
The total cement despatches during July-November 2012 period increased to 13.127 million tons from 12.691 million tons during the corresponding period of 2011. The cement exports however remained erratic during this fiscal, posting a cumulative decline of 4.38 percent during the first five months of this fiscal year.