The cement industry of the country can be divided into two separate regions; North & South Zone. The North Zone includes provinces of Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Azad Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan, and parts of Balochistan while South Zone includes provinces of Sindh and Balochistan. There are 19 and 5 cement units in the North and South Region, respectively. Players in the North Zone represent around four-fifths of the total rated capacity. Both North and South zones have their separate demand-supply dynamics.
Players operating in the South Market have the opportunity to tap a number of export markets thus providing greater room for revenue diversification. However, with a number of key export markets (Nigeria, Tanzania, Mozambique, Iraq, Ethiopia, and DR Congo) for South players undergoing local capacity expansion, reliance on imports may reduce affecting dispatches, going forward.
The export of South players has already been impacted due to the anti-dumping duty imposed by South Africa in FY15. Given the stronger local demand in the North Zone, reliance on exports is lower; export potential for players in the North Zone is limited mainly to Afghanistan where the influx of cheaper Iranian cement and limited construction activity due to the withdrawal of allied forces has contributed to decline in exports.