KARACHI: For the first time in the country’s history, the export of cement has begun to the United State, which is facing massive shortage of the commodity due to higher development budget.
Industry sources informed Tuesday that Pakistan’s leading cement producer DG Khan Cement has successfully fetched a cement export order of 0.6 million tons from the US.
Previously, Pakistani cement manufactures were exporting cement to African Countries, India and Afghanistan, however the now the US has emerged a new cement export market for Pakistan. For the first time in the history a Pakistani company is exporting building raw material to the US.
After fulfilling all formal requirements, DG Khan Cement Company has begun cement to US and currently the first consignment of 50,000 metric tons of cement is being loaded at a vessel namely Tomini Felicity Karachi Port Trust (KPT).
The cement is being exported in jumbo bags of 1.5 metric tons. The loading of cement on ship is expected to complete in a week and then the vessel will sail for its destination Houston, Texas USA.
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Farid Fazal Director Marketing DG Khan Cement told Business Recorder that the shipment will take some 32-day to reach Texas, US. He said that it’s not only an honor for the DG Khan Cement Company but also for the country that for the first time cement is being exported to the US.
He further informed that overall DG Khan Cement Company has got export order of 0.6 million metric tons and the entire quantity will export in next one year.
He said that this proves that Pakistani cement is high quality product and can meet quality requirements of any market. “The export has begun after multiple quality tests of Pakistani cement by the US authorities and this is a remarkable achievement for DG Khan Cement, who is now certified by TXDOT, LDOT, NCDOT and SCDOT for supply of cement to USA”, he added.
Fazal said that currently the US is facing massive shortage of cement due to a number of development projects initiated by American President Joe Biden to rebuild the infrastructure. Some $6 trillion development projects have been initiated by the US government.
D.G. Khan Cement Company Limited
He said that Pakistan is already facing a serious financial crisis and need healthy for inflows to overcome from the ongoing crisis and reduce the pressure on external account. Definitely, the cement export to the US will bring more foreign inflows for the national exchequer to build the foreign exchange reserves, he added. Industry sources said that Pakistan’s total cement production capacity is about 70 million metric tons annually as against 60 million metric tons of domestic demand. In addition, some new 6 plants are in pipeline and will add some 15 million metric tons capacity leading it to 85 million metric tons annually.
Pakistani cement companies are leading exporters of cement to Afghanistan, India and Africa. However, the cement export growth during this fiscal year is downward side and declined by 43 percent during first eleven months of this fiscal year (FY22). Overall, the country exported some 5 million metric tons cement during July-May of FY22.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
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