Displaying items by tag: Pakistan

India: Shailendra Chouksey, president of the Cement Manufacturers Association, has complained about imports of cement from Pakistan damaging the local industry. He told the Indo-Asian News Service that cement from Pakistan was up to 15% cheaper than Indian cement. There has been no customs duty on cement imports from Pakistan since 2007, making it competitive in comparison to local production, especially in states that neighbour Pakistan. By comparison, imports of cement to Pakistan face a duty of 11%.

Data from the Directorate General of Foreign Trade shows that 1.68Mt of cement was imported into India during the 2017 – 2018 financial year that ended in March 2018. 1.27Mt or 76% of this total was imported from Pakistan.

Indian producers have also complained about the high rate of the local Goods and Services Tax (GST) in the country. They are hoping to reduce the rate to 18% from 28% at present.

Pakistan: DG Khan’s sales rose by 3% year-on-year to US$271m in the year than ended on 30 June 2018 from US$263m in the same period in 2017. Its profit increased by 14% to US$72.4m from US$63.6m.

Pakistan: Maple Leaf Cement’s profits have fallen due to mounting costs of goods. Its profit after taxation fell by 4% year-on-year to US$37m in the year to 30 June 2018 from US$39m in the same period in 2017. Despite this its sales rose by 7.5% to US$208m from US$194m. The cement producer added that it had approved a US$8.1m loan to its holding company Kohinoor Textile Mills to meet ‘working capital requirements.’

Pakistan: The Supreme Court has ordered cement producers to pay for underground water used by cement producers near Katas Raj. Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar said that underground water is ‘very precious’ and added that cement factories using it near the temple at the site would no longer be able to do so for free, according to the Nation newspaper. The Chief Justice has also directed the Punjab Food Authority to audit local companies to assess how much water they are using and how much they are paying for it. The on-going case was started in response to a pond drying out at the Hindu heritage site due to water consumption by nearby cement plants.

Pakistan: Thatta Cement’s standalone sales fell by 22% US$23.1m in the financial year to 30 June 2018 from US$29.7m in the same period in 2017. Its gross profit fell by 35% to US$6.1m from US$9.4m. Its profit for the year fell by 39% to US$2.9m from US$4.7m.

Pakistan/Afghanistan: Pakistan’s cement industry has urged the government to increase the customs duty on the import of clinker to support local manufacturers. It also wants a reduction in the cost of doing business in the country to encourage domestic sales. The industry stakeholders said that Pakistan has been losing ‘a major chunk’ of its market in Afghanistan to Iranian cement, due to its higher energy costs.

The costs of electricity and gas in Pakistan are reportedly the highest in the region, while additional duties on coal imports have nullified the lower cost of coal on the global markets. Locally, high government taxes have encouraged imports of under-invoiced Iranian cement imports, resulting in drop in domestic sales.

According to the latest data, domestic consumption has dropped by almost 14% over the past three years. The domestic cement dispatches in the first two months of the current fiscal year declined by 5.3% year-on-year. In the north, cement dispatches declined by 8.8% while in south zone they declined by 10.9%. In July 2018 the overall growth in the industry was 5.1%, while in August 2018 the overall decline was 8%.

The industry recommended that imports of cement should not be allowed until the importers register themselves with the Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority to certify the quality of their cement.

Pakistan: Overall cement sales in Pakistan fell by 2% year-on-year to 7Mt in the first two months of the current fiscal year, which began on 1 July 2018. Domestic sales dropped by 5.3% to 5.9Mt, while exports increased by 21.5% to 1.1Mt.

A spokesperson from the All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA) said that the industry had been expecting slower growth at home but had not expected a contraction. He added that in July 2018 overall sales had grown by 5% but they fell by 8% in August 2018.

Pakistan: Kohat Cement Company Ltd. has ordered four vertical roller mills (VRM) from Germany’s Loesche in order to expand its cement plant in Kohat, 160km west of Pakistan’s capital Islamabad.

The order comprises a 4-roller raw material mill with a material throughput of 500t/hr and two cement mills each with a grinding capacity of 210t/hr of Portland cement. The order is finally complemented by another vertical roller mill for grinding 50t/hr of anthracite. They will all be used on the same cement production line, which Kohat Cement is in the process of building. The lead time for the mills will be eight months.

The plant’s production capacity is currently around 2.8Mt/yr of Portland and white cement. When the new line enters production, the plant’s capacity will rise by 2.2Mt/yr to reach 5.0Mt/yr.

Pakistan: Cement exports by sea from Pakistan increased by 133.7% from 144,000t in July 2017 to 340,000t in July 2018. The increase in exports via sea offset a decrease in overland exports to Afghanistan and India. Pakistan’s exports to Afghanistan and India decreased by around 44.9% and 44.4% respectively in July 2018. Hence, overall exports increased by 9.3% in July 2018 to 0.53Mt from 0.48Mt in July 2017.

Pakisan: Fauji Cement has approved plans to set up a 12.5MW captive solar plant. The company operates a 3.4Mt/yr cement plant near to Attock in Punjab Province.