Lahore August 3 2024: The All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association has released new statistics. Local cement despatches in the first month of FY2025 declined by 6.8 percent to 2,591K tons.
However, cement exports saw an annual increase of 21.6 percent, reaching 547,162 tons. Total cement dispatches for the month fell to 3,138K tons, which is 2.8 percent lower than July 2023 and 11.8 percent lower than June 2024.
According to the association, high taxes and rising costs are severely impacting the country. Local cement demand has been continuously declining for the past 11 months.
In July 2024, North based cement mills despatched 2.192 million tons cement showing a decline of 11.40 percent against 2.474 million tons despatches in July 2023. On the contrary, south based mills despatched 817,799 tons cement during July 2024 that was 8.20 percent more compared to the despatches of 755,824 tons during July 2023.
North based cement mills despatched 2.093 million tons cement in domestic markets in July 2024 showing a decline of 11.01% against 2.352 million tons despatches in July 2023. South based mills despatched 369,557 tons cement in local markets during July 2024 that was also 13.62 percent less compared to the despatches of 427,847 during July 2023.
Exports from North based mills declined by 18.79 percent as the quantities reduced from 121,814 tons in July 2023 to 98,920 tons in July 2024. Exports from South however increased by 36.67% to 448,242 tons in July 2024 from 327,977 tons during the same month last year.
A spokesman of All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association emphasized that higher taxes and increasing input costs are seriously affecting cement sector of the country. He added that this is the 11th straight month during which domestic despatches are showing declining trend due to sluggish economic activity in the country. Cement industry urges the government to review its taxation policies in order to reduce the burden of heavy taxes on this important sector of the economy.
We support documentation drive of the Government but forcing very small retailers to register in a complicated sales tax system and installing PoS is not likely to yield any additional sales tax revenue as cement being a 3rd Schedule item, whole amount of sales tax on consumer price is already being paid by the manufacturer, he added.
