Cement Industry of Pakistan
HISTORY & INTRODUCTION
In 1947, Pakistan inherited 4 cement plants having total installed capacity of 0.5 million tons. Over the next 20 years, five cement units were established with aggregate production capacity of 3.2 million tons. Among these units Zeal Pak and Javedan were established in Sindh in the public sector. Maple Leaf, Gharibwal and Mustehkam were established in the province of Punjab. In 1972, the cement industry was nationalized which stopped further addition to capacity until 1977 when the private sector was again allowed to establish cement plants. During the 1980s, the private sector established seven new plants and the State Cement, the Government owned corporation established four new plants. During the first half of the 1980s, the increasing volumes and profits combined with the promise of higher increasing requirements in a growing economy and the expected implementation of ambitious Five-Year plans, private investors felt prompted to go ahead with the setting of five new plants viz Pioneer, Attock, Lucky, Fauji and Bestway.
In1991-92, the cement industry went through a major transformation, heralding a new era of privatization and effective price decontrol inline with a range of other public industries. There were also expansions in existing units at Maple Leaf and D.G. Khan and optimizations at D.G. Khan, Kohat and Attock. Since then the industry has gone through tremendous increase in capacity during last few years as a result of correct forecast of the entrepreneurs about growing demand in the region. At present the country has 26 cement producing companies with an installed capacity of producing around 44.82 million tons of cement mainly Portland cement. The industry is divided into two broad regions, the northern region and the southern region.
The geographical wise breakup of production capacity is as under:
Province Units Capacity (Million Tons) percentage
North Zone 19 35.93
In 1947, Pakistan inherited 4 cement plants having total installed capacity of 0.5 million tons. Over the next 20 years, five cement units were established with aggregate production capacity of 3.2 million tons. Among these units Zeal Pak and Javedan were established in Sindh in the public sector. Maple Leaf, Gharibwal and Mustehkam were established in the province of Punjab. In 1972, the cement industry was nationalized which stopped further addition to capacity until 1977 when the private sector was again allowed to establish cement plants. During the 1980s, the private sector established seven new plants and the State Cement, the Government owned corporation established four new plants. During the first half of the 1980s, the increasing volumes and profits combined with the promise of higher increasing requirements in a growing economy and the expected implementation of ambitious Five-Year plans, private investors felt prompted to go ahead with the setting of five new plants viz Pioneer, Attock, Lucky, Fauji and Bestway.
In1991-92, the cement industry went through a major transformation, heralding a new era of privatization and effective price decontrol inline with a range of other public industries. There were also expansions in existing units at Maple Leaf and D.G. Khan and optimizations at D.G. Khan, Kohat and Attock. Since then the industry has gone through tremendous increase in capacity during last few years as a result of correct forecast of the entrepreneurs about growing demand in the region. At present the country has 26 cement producing companies with an installed capacity of producing around 44.82 million tons of cement mainly Portland cement. The industry is divided into two broad regions, the northern region and the southern region.
The geographical wise breakup of production capacity is as under:
Province Units Capacity (Million Tons) percentage
North Zone 19 35.93