After a brief month-on-month increase of 11.64% in January 2025, domestic demand for cement declined once more in February, though remained higher than the corresponding period of 2024.
Data issued by the All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA) states that local cement dispatches during February stood at 3.065 million tons, a marginal 6.82% increase over the 2.869 million tons dispatched in February 2024. However, it recorded a 21.28% decrease over January 2025, when 3.894 million tons were dispatched.
According to APCMA, export dispatches increased by 34.3% year-on-year in February, going from 395,935 tons in 2024 to 531,736 tons in 2025. Total cement dispatches during February 2025 stood at 3.596 million tons against 3.265 million tons from February 2024, an increase of 10.15%.
Regional breakup
In February 2025, North-based cement mills dispatched 2.556 million tons of cement, an increase of 5.06% against the 2.433 million tons dispatched in February 2024. South-based mills dispatched 1.04 million tons in February 2025, 25.04% higher than the 0.831 million tons dispatched in February 2024.
North-based cement mills dispatched 2.507 million tons of cement to domestic markets in February 2025, a 7.22% hike over the 2.338 million tons dispatched a year earlier. Similarly, South-based mills dispatched 557,895 tons of cement to local markets in February 2025, 5.06% more than the 531,044 tons dispatched in the same month of 2024.
Exports from North-based mills saw a massive 47.82% drop, going from 95,393 tons in February 2024 to 49,780 tons in February 2025. Exports from South, however, jumped by 60.36% to 481,956 tons in 2025 against 300,542 tons of 2024.
Eight Months
Cumulatively, during the first eight months of fiscal year 2024-25, total cement dispatches were 30.423 million tons, 0.45% lower than the 30.560 million tons dispatched in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year. Domestic dispatches during this period were 24.5 million tons against 26.06 million tons of last year, a marginal reduction of 6%. Export dispatches, meanwhile, increased by 31.78%, going from 4.495 million tons to 5.924 million tons.
In the first eight months of the ongoing fiscal, North-based Mills dispatched 20.36 million tons of cement domestically, 5.28% less than the 21.49 million tons dispatched in July-February 2024. Exports from the North increased by 20.42% to 1.101 million tons during July-February 2025 compared with 0.914 million tons exported during the same period last year. Total dispatches by North-based mills reduced by 4.23% to 21.462 million tons during first eight months of current financial year.
Domestic dispatches by South-based mills during July-February 2025 were 4.139 million tons, 9.42% less than the 4.570 million tons of cement dispatched last year.
Exports from the South increased by 34.68% to 4.822 million tons during July-February 2025, against 3.580 million tons exported during the same period last year. Total dispatches by South-based mills increased by 9.96% to 8.962 million tons during the first eight months of the current financial year, from 8.150 million tons during the same period of last financial year.
A spokesman of APCMA said the industry expects the government to enable a better situation for it in this year’s budget to increase the sector’s capacity utilization. He stressed that the cement industry attracts many allied industries, playing a pivotal role in overall economic uplift of the country.