Industry Information

Cement is one of major industries of Pakistan. Pakistan is rich in cement raw material. Currently many cement plants are operating in private sector. The cement industry of Pakistan entered the export markets a few years back, and has established its reputation as a good quality product. Pakistan Cement Industry has now huge potential for export of cement to neighbouring countries like India, U.A.E, Afghanistan, Iraq & Russian States.

GDP CONTRIBUTION The fiscal year 2010-11 proved to be a nightmare for the cement sector as 80 per cent of the cement manufacturers suffered huge losses on the back of stagnant local consumption. On top of this the government failed to honor its commitment for payment of inland freight subsidy that could have boosted exports. Cement consumption declined by 8.24 per cent during the fiscal year 2010-11 as compared to the last year which has rung alarm bells for the industry and planners of the country alike. Cement despatches for FY 2010-11 reveal that capacity utilization of the industry was at its lowest at 76.12 per cent in past eight years with total dispatches declining by 6.68 per cent to 21.97 million tons, down from 23.55 million tons in 2009-10. Low consumption of cement mirrors the low growth of GDP of the economy. RAW MATERIAL Limestone and gypsum are the main raw materials for manufacturing of cement and they are present in abundance in Pakistan along with good supply of Natural gas. At present there are 22 cement plants are operating in Pakistan with the production of approximately 44.217 million tonnes. Out of these 22 cement plants, 17 are private and 5 are publicr. 11 new plants are also in planning stage and the capacity of these plants is estimated around 12.988 million tonnes. Cement industry is divided into two main regions; the northern and the southern region. Northern region is producing 35.18 million tonnes and southern region is producing 8.89 million tonnes of cement per year. (R-1) 20% Cement sale for domestic market during the month of January 2011 remained 1.907 M tons, registering a growth of 7% while export was 0.566 M tons, showing a 20% decline compared with last month i .e . December 2 01 0. Cement sale for theperiod fromJuly 2010 to January 2011 was 17.2 0 M tons, registering a decrease by 12.01% as compared to corresponding period.The decline is in contrast to the last year when local consumption of cement increased by 14.70% in 2009-10 but the overall increase in cement sales was 9.30% due to declin e in exports .(Daily Times - February 9, 2011) (R-6)

The economy of Pakistan is the 47th largest in the world in nominal terms and 27th largest in the world in terms of purchasing power parity (PPP). Pakistan ranks forty-first in the world and fifty-fifth worldwide in factory output (R-2)

In Pakistan Budget 2011- 2012 Rs.2137.8 million has been allocated for Industries and Proudction division. GDP growth from 2.4% (revised) in 2010-11 to 4.2% (target) 2011-12. (R-3)

The cement industry crossed the heavily burdened debt mark of Rs 120 billion from financial institutions, the industry sources told The Nation. (R-5)

Pakistan had the capacity to produce 44.88 M tons of cement by the end of fiscal year 2009, though it only produced 33.22 M tons due to lower demand and increased losses due to the pressure placed on pricing, according to a research conduct ed by Th e Visi on Corp. (The Express Tribune - February 6, 2011) December 2010 Rs 340 per bag, January Rs 341 and in February, 2011 the cement bag was selling at Rs 344 each in market. (The Nation - February 11, 2011) (R-6) The cement sector consumed (0.05 percent) of gas during the period under review. (R-7) The Real GDP is estimated to grow at 2.4 percent on the back of strong performance of services sector as against actual growth of 3.8 percent last year and target of 4.5 percent. Pakistans per capita real income has risen by 0.7 percent in 2010-11 as against 2.9 percent last year. The inflation rate as measured by the changes in Consumer Price Index (CPI) stood at 14.1 percent during July-April (2010-11), as against 11.5 percent in the comparable period of last year

REFERENCES: http://pakistan360degrees.contentcreatorz.com/cement-industry-of-pakistan/ (R-1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industry_of_Pakistan (R-2)

http://economicpakistan.wordpress.com/pakistan-budget-2011-12 (R-3)

http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/Business/27Oct-2009/Cement-industry-crosses-Rs120-billion-debt-mark (R-5) http://www.nbp.com.pk/tracker/NBPTracker-CurrentEd (R-6) http://www.finance.gov.pk/survey/chapter_11/Overview%20of%20the%20Economy (R-7)