Cement demand catching up in southern states

 ​Chennai: The demand for cement is slowly picking up in southern states following an increase in infrastructure and housing sector projects, Vice-Chairman and Managing Director of India Cements N Srinivasan said here on Thursday.“The southern region is slowly catching up with the rest of the country in the demand for cement with higher capacity utilisation by the plants in the current year,” he said addressing shareholders at the 72nd annual general meeting of the company.

Southern region registered a growth of over 20 per cent in cement output during the April-June 2018 quarter primarily driven by the infrastructure push given by the governments of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, he said. With the rise in consumption in infrastructure and housing sectors, the future is bright for the cement industry for the next 10 years,” he said.

“With the focus of the central and state governments on infrastructure projects and housing schemes, recovery in cement demand is expected to continue,” he added. Capacity utilisation of plants owned by India Cements Ltd was at 71 per cent better than the industry peers in South. India Cements substantially improved the operating performance in the first quarter of the financial year April-June 2018 with capacity utilisation of 80 per cent as compared to 67 per cent in the same quarter the previous year, he said.