KARACHI: The cement sector has witnessed a sales boom for the last four years, more so this fiscal as total despatches reached 22.243 million tons in July-December 2017 against 19.806 million tons during corresponding period of last fiscal.

The cement sector's capacity utilisation touched 95pc during July-Dec 2017.

A statement on Thursday said that according to data released by the All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers' Association (APCMA), in first six months of this fiscal, the domestic consumption stood at 19.836 million tons, an increase of 17.41 percent from 16.895 million tons in July-Dec 2016.

However, the continued decline in exports affected overall growth as exports dropped by 17.34 percent from 2.911 million tons in July-Dec 2016 to 2.406 million tons during the same period this year, the statement added.

It said that the cement units located in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa despatched 16.455 million tons cement locally in July-December 2017, which is 18.12 percent higher than 13.930 million tons local despatched in the same period last year.

The cement units located in Sindh and Balochistan despatched 3.382 million tons cement locally in July-December 2017, which is 14.06 percent higher than 2.965 million tons local despatches in the same period last year.