KARACHI: Lucky Cement notified the bourse on Thursday that the greenfield cement production facility in Samawah, Iraq with a capacity of 1.2 million tons/annum commenced its commercial operations with effect from March 10, 2021.
The said cement production facility is a joint venture with between Lucky Cement and Al-Shamookh group of Iraq.
Consequent to this addition, Lucky Cement’s overseas cement capacity now stands at 4.12 MTPA including cement grinding plant in Basra, Iraq (1.74 MTPA); fully integrated cement plant in Democratic Republic of Congo (1.18 MTPA) and fully integrated cement plant in Samawah, Iraq having capacity of 1.20 MTPA.
Keeping in view the growing demand of cement in central and northern Iraq, Lucky Cement in 2019 decided to further invest in setting up a grinding unit in addition to existing clinker production.
According to a company report, kiln was fired in 1st week of January 2021 and trial production commenced on 15th January 2021. “Despite the impacts of Covid-19 pandemic situation, project has successfully achieved its’ milestones on time.”
Keeping pace with the increasing demand in the domestic cement industry, on the back of revival of economic activity and uptick in construction projects including both retail level projects as well as mega infrastructure development projects, Lucky Cement has decided to enhance its cement production capacity at its Pezu Plant by 3.15 million tons/annum.
The total project cost for the above expansion will be finalized after conclusion of negotiations with the suppliers and contractors. The construction work on the project is expected to commence within current financial year and is expected to have a construction period of 1.5 to 2 years.
In the short to medium term, the outlook of the cement industry remains positive. Due to increase in economic activity, the local demand has shown healthy growth both in the North and South regions compared to same period last year.
As a result, price improvement can be seen mainly in the North region. Export demand is also expected to remain steady in the near future. On the other hand, there will be a pressure on margins due to rise in international coal and crude oil prices.
Moreover, Company expects that the package announced for the construction industry by the Federal Government coupled with various initiatives taken by State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to support the local industry will continue to have a positive impact on the local demand of cement in the country.
Lucky Cement is one of the largest producers and leading exporters of quality cement in Pakistan and is listed on the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX). The company has also issued Global Depository Receipts (GDRs), listed and traded on the Professional Securities Market of the London Stock Exchange.