KARACHI: In May local sales of cement jumped 41 per cent in spite of the long Eid-ul-Fitr holidays and price increase by manufacturers in the North region.
Following a Rs10 per 50kg bag jump on May 29, the Northern region cement makers further raised the price by Rs5 on June 4, taking the average price to Rs609 per 50kg bag. Currently, the 50kg cement bag in the North zone is priced between Rs610-615.
Shankar Talreja of Topline Securities said the average cement bag price in North was Rs514 per 50kg bag on July 1. “North-based mills lowered the prices one-and-a-half years ago but now they are going for an increase. Coal price is now tagged at $108 per tonne which was $54.3 per tonne on July 1 last year,” he said.
“However, cement prices in Southern region did not witness any significant jump as the manufacturers have now lowered the prices, like Northern region in the past,” Mr Tarleja added.
As per data released by the All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA), the cement sector showed excellent growth of 49.86 per cent in May 2021. Total cement dispatches during May were 3.947 million tonnes as compared to 2.634m tonnes during the same month in the previous fiscal year.
Domestic cement dispatches during May increased to 3.201m tonnes from 2.271m tonnes in the same month in FY20. Exports massively rose by 105.56pc – from 363,174 tonnes in May 2020 to 746,550 tonnes last month.
During May, North-based cement mills dispatched 2.713m tonnes in the local markets, up by 35.55pc from 2.001m tonnes in the same period last year. Exports from North-based mills were just 7,520 tonnes in May 2020 which surged to 203,625 tonnes last month.
Meanwhile, South-based mills sold 487,311 tonnes in domestic markets during May, registering a robust jump of 81pc compared to 269,003 tonnes in the same period last year. Exports from the South also posted a growth of 53pc to 542,925 tonnes in May 2021 from 355,654 tonnes during the same month last year.
During July-May 2020-21 (11MFY21), total cement dispatches (domestic and exports) grew by 21pc to 52.222m tonnes versus 43.189m tonnes during the corresponding period of last fiscal year.
Local despatches rose by 20.26pc to 43.451m tonnes in 11MFY21 from 36.13m tonnes in the same period last fiscal year. Exports increased from 7.059m tonnes during 11MFY20 to 8.771m tonnes during the same period on FY21 – up 24.25pc.
