ISLAMABAD: The cement sector reported a 9.19pc increase in despatches in October 2019, as 4.984 million tonnes of cement despatched during the month as compared to 4.564 million tonnes in October 2018.
As per the data compiled by the All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA), the cement despatches increased in September 2019 after negative growth in the first two months of the fiscal while the positive trend continued in October as well.
North zone registered an increase of 15.86pc in local despatches during October with 3.605 million tonnes of despatches as compared to 3.111 million tonnes in October last year. It is interesting to note that the local cement despatches from the northern part of the country alone were higher than the total cement despatches in any of the first two months of this fiscal.
The sour point, however, is that the domestic cement uptake in the southern region remained low in October 2019, despatching just 0.591 million tons, down by an alarming 29.41pc from 0.837 million tonnes in October 2018.