South Africa: Cement imports from Pakistan to South Africa will continue and are expected to increase, says Qamar Zaman, commercial secretary at the High Commission of Pakistan in South Africa.
In 2012, issues were raised about the quality of Pakistani cement but Zaman said that lower prices gave his country's imports a competitive edge. South Africa consumes about 12Mt/yr of cement, with imports sitting at 5%, according to Stanlib analyst Anashrin Pillay.
Multinational cement producer Lafarge complained publicly about Pakistani imports of cement into South Africa in mid-2012, mentioning poor quality and incorrectly packaged quantities. Zaman defended Pakistani cement, saying over the past decade it had been refined and the production processes were now 'of a high standard.'