India-Pak ties grow stronger with cement trade

NEW DELHI: Despite the best efforts of naysayers, India-Pakistan trade is chugging along quite nicely. And by the end of 2007, India is set to replace Afghanistan as the largest export market for Pakistani cement.

Pakistani cement, at Rs 144 per 50-kg bag is significantly cheaper than Indian cement, which sells here in the price band of Rs 235-250, making the former much more attractive.

The Indian construction boom and a soaring real estate market is hungry for cement.

Pakistani cement exporters are understandably excited, targeting a 6-million -annual sale of cement to India. There appears to be some glitches in packaging issues and some standardization questions remain, but officials say these are easily resolved.

According to reports, seven Pakistani cement companies have acquired provisional certification from the Bureau of Indian Standards to sell their product in cement-hungry India, while they complete procedures for the final stamp of approval from the quality-control authority.

‘‘Pakistan exported 340,000 tonnes of cement to various countries in October and managed to export only 20,000 tonnes to India in the same month,’’ said Muhammad Shahzad, spokesman of All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA).