Acc, L & T Despatches Rise Handsomely In October

Cement majors, The Associated Cement Companies and Larsen & Toubro, have clocked sharp increases in despatches for October at 13.6 per cent and 8.3 per cent, respectively.

While ACC despatches shot up to 10.47 lakh tonne last month, that of L&T inched up to 9.46 lakh tonne.

ACC's production during the month was up by 9.17 per cent at 10.23 lakh tonne compared with 9.37 lakh tonne last year. L&T's production during October increased by 6.3 per cent to 9.48 lakh tonne against 8.92 lakh last year.

A K Jain, president (marketing) at ACC said, "The volume growth is primarily on account of the post monsoon pick up in demand and the commissioning of our Wadi unit. The second half of the year will definitely be better than the first half."

In the first seven months, cement despatches by ACC stood at 68.76 lakh tonne against 62.05 lakh tonne in the corresponding period last year, and increase of 10.8 per cent.

L&T's despatches during April-October was 68 lakh tonne against 63.7 lakh tonne in the previous year period, an improvement of 6.75 per cent.

Production in the April-October period by ACC and L&T stood at 68.57 lakh tonne and 68 lakh tonne against last year's production of 62.12 lakh tonne and 64.4 lakh tonne, respectively.

According to analysts, there has been an increase in demand on account of a good monsoon. The future of the cement industry looks bright with indications of infrastructure activities picking up during the second half of the current fiscal.