Staff Reporter
Karachi
Cement despatches in the country have declined in April 2020 by 23.65 percent to 3.52 million tons from 4.61 million tons in April 2019 as both exports and domestic markets crashed, owing to the devastating impact of COVID-19. According to a statement issued by All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers’ Association (APCMA), the cement sector that was already struggling to survive on extremely high input costs, has been badly hit due to lock down in the first half of the month.
The decline in domestic consumption was witnessed both in the North and South zones of the country as it fell 18.97 percent to 3.271 million tons in April 2020 from 4.037 million tons in the same month last year. Domestic despatches from the mills in Southern part of the country fell by 49.85 percent from 0.683 million tons in April 2019 to only 0.342 million tons last month whereas the mills based in North despatched only 2.928 million tons domestically in April 2020, down by 12.68 percent from 3.353 million tons in same month last year.
Exports have recorded the first instance of decrease this year as they fell from 574,026 tons in April 2019 to a mere 249,127 tons last month, depicting a decrease of 56.6 percent. Exports from the Southern Zone declined by 27.97 percent from 343,611 tons in April 2019 to only 247,519 tons in April 2020.
The situation was even more dismal for the mills situated in the North as the exports in April 2020 were negligible at 1609 ton, falling 99.3 percent from 230,415 tons in April last year.
