Cement dispatches: negative growth in November 2018

The cement sector is passing through a lean period which despite mammoth growth in exports still recorded negative growth of 1 percent in November 2018 as compared to same month last year. The growth momentum maintained by the cement industry for five years has now come to a halt due to stagnant domestic consumption despite exports picking up from Southern part of the country due to huge devaluation of rupee. The Northern region that catered to Afghanistan and Indian markets has not benefited from rupee depreciation because of political reasons.
In November, the cement industry dispatched 3.899 million tons of cement that was one percent less than 3.941 million tons of cement dispatched during the corresponding month of last year. Total local dispatches in the month fell from 3.593 million tons in November 2017 to 3.337 million tons last month, depicting a decrease of 7.13 percent. However, the exports continued to grow and rose by a whopping 61.33 percent from 0.349 million tons in November 2017 to 0.563 million tons in November 2018.
The factories located in the Northern region of the country dispatched 2.871 million tons of cement in November 2018 compared with 3.245 million tons dispatched in November 2017.