KARACHI: The impact of the construction package announced by the government is yet to be seen as the domestic cement uptake declined by a massive 37.63 percent to 2.27 million tons in May 2020 from 3.64 million tons in May 2019,
Moreover, exports also decreased by 24.81 percent from 0.483 million tons in May 2019 to 0.363 million tons in May 2020.
According to the data released by All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA), cement dispatches were only 2.63 million tons in May 2020 for both export and local consumption against the dispatches of 4.12 million tons during the corresponding month of last fiscal, which shows a decrease of 36.12 percent.
The decline in cement dispatches is mainly due to Holy month of Ramzan, Covid-19 and Eid holidays which slows the construction activity.
During the first eleven months of this fiscal the total cement dispatches were 43.189 million tons against 43.327 million tons during the same period last fiscal posting a decline of 0.32 percent. The domestic consumption during the first eleven months of this fiscal declined by 2.72 percent, Cement dispatches declined to 36.13 million tons in current fiscal from 37.14 million tons in corresponding period. While exports increased by 14.07 percent, export dispatches increased to 7.059 million tons during the eleven months of current fiscal from 6.188 million tons in the corresponding period last year.