KARACHI: The first cement consignment for the United States, exported by DG Khan Cement Company, will sail off on Tuesday (June 21) from Karachi Port Trust.
Addressing a press conference, Farid Fazal, Executive Director DG Khan Cement Company said for the first time ever a Pakistani cement manufacturer, ie, DG Khan Cement Company has entered the US market as the demand for construction materials in the US has increased manifolds with buyers looking for new sources of supply following President Biden’s $ 6 trillion infrastructure package.
He said under this package all mega infrastructure projects including freeways, bridges and roads will be rebuilt or given facelifts as some of these were constructed almost a century ago.
Fazal said DG Khan Cement has successfully obtained a export order from a group in the US to supply 50,000 metric tons of cement every month for the next 12 months with a total 600,000 metric tons. “This figure could double if all goes well,” he added.
This is for the first time in the country’s history cement is being exported to the sophisticated US market. Presently, a ship Tomini Felicity is being loaded at Karachi Port and will sail probably on Tuesday carrying the first consignment of 50,000 metric tons to the Port of Houston, Texas, he maintained.
He said export to the US was not an easy task and it would take some eight months to meet their requirements for cement export to the US. In August 2021, DG Khan Cement visited the US to get this order and after the customers representatives visited the DG Khan plant, they agreed on supply of special cement called “low alkali cement.”
Fazal said cement is being exported in a large bag of 1.5 metric tons and the US authorities were also doubted on the ability of Karachi Port for load of such kind of quantities.
However, Syedain Raza Zaidi, Chairman of KPT helped tremendously in assuring the customer that KPT is as good as any other port in the region. Chairman KPT fully facilitated the US delegation to witness the cement export facilities at the port.
DG Khan Cement has also got the technical certifications for supply of cement to the markets in US from TXDOT, NCDOT, SCDOT and LODOT and after getting all the approvals, DG Khan Cement has entered into the US market.
He said the US is a huge market and due to strict environmental laws, it is very difficult to put up a cement factory and their requirements of cement are met by imports mainly from Mexico, Canada, Vietnam and Turkey.
On the occasion, Najib Balagamwala, Chairman Seatrade Group of Companies said that it is an honor for the country as a leading Pakistani company for the first time in the history is exporting cement to the US.
With continued efforts of 6 months, DG Khan Cement has explored a new cement export market for the country and definitely will earn more foreign exchange for the country, he added.
He said that Nishat Group is one of the largest and most diversified business groups in Southeast Asia and the management of Nishat Group under the dynamic leadership of Mian Muhammad Mansha continues the spirit of entrepreneurship.
DG Khan Cement Company is amongst largest cement manufacturers of Pakistan with a production capacity of 7.5 million metric tons cement per annum. DGKCC has three cement plants located at Dera Ghazi Khan, Kalar Kahar and Hub.
DG Khan Cement Company is the first to use innovative technologies in the cement industry. Its latest state of the art plant, located at Hub, is first of its kind to have the largest production line with six stage pre-heater tower, largest vertical grinding mill based on COPE drive system, multiple chamber cement storage silos to store different products at the same time. It is from this plant that we are exporting a ship load of low alkali cement to the US.
Majyd Aziz Balagamwala, Omer Balagamwala, Shahid Ghazanfar GM DG Khan Cement, Ziauddin DGM Sales and Marketing DG Khan Cement and others were also present at the press conference.