Four cement companies Attock Cement, DG Khan Cement, Fauji Cement and Kohat Cement have announced their third quarter (3Q) results so far with combined loss of Rs1.241 billion after taxation. Their average profitability (after taxation) in the third quarter has declined by 146pc as compared to 3Q 2019, while in the nine months period, the profitability has declined by 109pc.

Attock Cement's profit has declined by 37pc, Kohat Cement by 159pc, Fauji Cement by 134pc and DG Khan Cement by 214pc. In 3Q 2020, DG Khan posted a loss of Rs1.003 billion, Fauji Cement Rs 210 million and Kohat Cement posted a loss of Rs381 million.

Only Attock Cement earned a profit of Rs353 million in 3Q 2020, which is 37pc lower than Rs559 million earned in 3Q 2019. The combined loss after taxation is Rs1.241 billion in 3rd quarter of this fiscal, whereas they posted a profit of Rs2.703 billion in the same period last year.

In nine months, loss after taxation is Rs746 million, whereas they posted a profit of Rs8.613 billion in the corresponding period. The two north based plants have incurred gross loss in the third quarter which shows that they were not even able to recover the production cost fully.

There was no export to India during this period. Production capacity of the cement sector has increased from 44 million tons in 2014 to 69 million tons. The debt has increased from Rs62 billion in June 2014 to Rs180 billion in June 2019 Commencement of work on mega projects and housing schemes announced by the government will bode well for the industry, the industry insiders said.

© Pakistan Press International, source Asianet-Pakistan