pakistan 
A surge in construction activities has spiked cement sales by a whopping 24.3 percent during April 2021, as sales during the month crossed 4.066 million tonnes.
In the same month last year, cement sales of 3.271m tonnes were recorded. Exports have also posted a massive growth of 252pc, as a total of 877,163 tonnes were exported during April 2021. In the same period last year, cement exports stayed at 249,127 tonnes.
Combining exports and local sales, total cement dispatches registered an increment of 40.41pc in April 2021 to 4.943m tonnes. In April 2020, this figure was 3.52m tonnes.
As per the figures released by the All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA), in April 2021, the North-based cement mills supplied 3.377m tonnes in the domestic markets. This showed a spike of 15.33pc as compared to 2.928m tonnes from a year ago.
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Dispatches by the South-based mills stood at 688,239 tonnes during April this year, showing a jump of 100pc compared to 342,594 tonnes in the corresponding period of 2020.
Exports from North-based mills showed an enormous increase of 155 times as the supply spiked to 250,072 tonnes in April 2021 from just 1,609 tonnes in April 2020. Exports from the South rose by 153.35pc from 247,519 tonnes in April 2020 to 627,091 tonnes in April 2021.
Total cement dispatches during 10MFY21, domestic and exports combined, were 48.274m tonnes. This signifies a jump of 19pc from 40.555m tonnes the same month last fiscal year.
An APCMA spokesman predicted that cement exports would cross nine million tonnes by June 2021. He said that domestic dispatches were on a rise even in the holy month of Ramadan during which usually construction activities slow down.
