KARACHI: Construction activities under Naya Pakistan Housing Scheme coupled with strong government initiatives and PSDP allocation pushed cement consumption up by a large extent. The cement sector posted growth of 12.73 percent in June 2021 as compared to June 2020. Total cement despatches during June 2021 were 5.211 million tons against 4.623 million tons despatched during the same month of the last fiscal year. According to the data released by APCMA, local cement despatches in the month of June 2021 increased to 4.668 million tons against 3.834 million tons despatched in June 2020, showing an increase of 21.74 percent. Exports dropped by 31.12 percent to 542,622 tons in June 2021 compared to 787,842 tons exported in June 2020. Region wise, domestic cement despatches in the North during June 2021 increased by 14.06 percent to 3.859 million tons from 3.384 million tons in June 2020. Exports from the North massively increased by 337.89 percent to 201,540 tons in June 2021 from 46,025 tons in June 2020. In the South region, domestic cement despatches increased by 79.35 percent to 808,490 tons during June 2021 from 450,792 tons in June 2020. Exports from South, however, decreased by 54.02 percent to 341,082 tons in June 2021 from 741,817 tons in June 2020. Robust growth is witnessed during the FY2020-21 as the total cement despatches of the country grew by 20.12 percent to 57.433 million tons from 47.812 million tons during FY2019-20. During the FY2020-21, local cement despatches witnessed an increase of 20.40 percent to 48.119 million tons from 39.965 million tons from the last financial year of 2019-20. Exports also increased from 7.847 million tons in FY2019-20 to 9.314 million tons during the financial year 2020-21, showing growth of 18.69 percent. Region wise, in the North, local cement despatches increased by 18.22 percent to 40.582 million tons during the period of June-July21 from 34.328 million tons despatched at the same time last year. Exports from the north increased by 30.25 percent to 2.566 million tons in June to July 2021 from 1.970 million tons during the same period last year. In the south region, domestic cement despatches increased by 33.70 percent to 7.537 million tons during June-July from 5.638 million tons last year. Exports from the south also increased by 14.82 percent to 6.747 million tons in June-July 2021 from 5.877 million tons during corresponding period last year. A spokesman of APCMA said that FY2020-21 has been a good year for cement, as demand has grown considerably. Cement industry is expanding its capacity from 70 million tons to around 100 million tons with the hope that the demand will increase by 15% annually for the next three years due to increase in allocation in PSDP, increase in CPEC related projects and housing as well as industrial demand.