Cement despatches grow 10%

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Chennai, Jan 14 : Carrying forward its spectacular run, cement industry once again put up a stellar performance. Driven by Central region, cement despatches clocked a 10% growth during the nine-month period ended December 31, 2006 over a 10% growth in production.

According to the industry sources, despatches during April-December 2006 were at 112.25 million tonne as against 102 million tonne during the same period last fiscal. Similarly, production too jumped to 112.87 million tonnes as compared to 102.33 million tonne. Unlike earlier occasions, the sharp growth has been due to increased consumption in Central region. Driven by Uttar Pradesh, the region clocked a growth of 13%, followed by southern region (11%) and northern region (11%). The growth in west ern and eastern regions was at 9% and 6%, respectively.

Uttaranchal leads the pack of states with a huge growth of 27% in consumption during April-December period, followed by Chattisgarh. Notable growth was also seen in Karnataka (21%) and Himachal Pradesh (17%).

On the production side, most of the regions grown over 0%. Among the states, Bihar alone registered 37% growth in production followed by Orissa (19%). During December, despatches grew 7.7% to 13.53 million tonne. The production too achieved a growth of 8% during the month to 13.46 million tonne. The exports during the nine-month period remained subdued. The export of both cement and clinker during the period was at 6.88 million tonne as compared to 6.77 million tonne.