Cement despatches rise 8% in 9 mths

The growth in cement industry despatches in the first nine months of the current fiscal has more than doubled to 8.04 per cent against 3.9 per cent growth seen in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year.

In absolute terms, volume of despatches in the first nine months was 91.34 million tonne against 84.54 million tonne in the corresponding period of last year.

Despatches for December 2004 stood at 10.83 million tonne, an increase of 9.72 per cent over despatches of 9.87 million tonne, reported for the December 2003.

Anil Singhvi, executive director, Gujarat Ambuja Cement, said: "Looking at the numbers in the post monsoon months, the industry is poised for a buoyant growth phase ahead."

While despatches in October reported a highest growth of 16.48 per cent at 10.6 million tonne, April recorded a growth of 15.38 per cent at 10.5 million tonne. The industry clocked a double-digit growth in September at 12.36 per cent and in November at 10.75 per cent.

A cement sector analyst said, "The industry growth in this year has been very good on the back of a firm growth in July and September." In July, the industry recorded a growth of 9.78 per cent in despatches.

May and June witnessed slower growth at 3.74 per cent and 1.98 per cent, respectively. Volumes were down to 10.3 million tonne in May compared with 10.7 million tonne in May 2003, while in June, volumes were lower at 9.9 million tonne against 10.1 million tonne in the corresponding period of the previous year.

The industry recorded a marginal growth of 1.15 per cent in despatches at 8.8 million tonne in August 2004 compared with 8.7 million tonne in August 2003.