India to import more cement from Pakistan

Calcutta News.Net
Saturday 12th April, 2008

After banning export of cement to control inflation, India plans to increase import of cement from Pakistan and buy a total of seven million tonnes from the neighbouring country this fiscal, said a senior commerce ministry official here Saturday.

'We have already imported 21 lakh (2.1 million) tonnes of cement from Pakistan and we plan to import about 4,000 tonnes every day starting May 1,' said the official.

'In total, we plan to import about seven million tonnes of cement by this year, that's the surplus that they have. However, there are some infrastructure constraints which we need to address,' the official added.

This move would be taken by the government to tame the surging inflation that hit a 41-month high of 7.41 percent for the week ended March 29, from 7 percent for the week before, on account of higher food and commodities prices.

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