This is a classical trough scenario for the cement sector. Things cannot get any more frustrating. Starting from the second half of 2010, the cement sector has been inundated with never ending woes: muted demand with only 4.5 per cent growth in initial months, excess capacity with only 75 per cent utilization, decline in realisations of as much as Rs 35 per bag and profitability declining at the rate of Rs 1,100 per tonne.Yet, things are not at glum as they appear. Take for example the promise from the finance minster that infrastructure spending will increase in the coming days. This is more emphasised by the fact that internal spending will have to boost the economy if India has to keep up its growth rate and insulate itself from the global turmoil. In conjunction, many other long-term demand drivers are still intact and this will ensure return of normal growth. Many cement manufacturers are confident that the worst is behind them and that prices will bounce back after the monsoon and drive profitability.Bleak as it currently looks, the industry has the capability to withstand the onslaught of varied negative factors and still come out trumps. Despite many analysts predicting dark days ahead for cement companies, shares of some of the larger companies have managed to hold their own while other sectors have dipped. Post the announcement of RBI on credit tightening, domestic benchmark indices have lost almost 12 per cent in value but cement stocks have not only stood steady some of them have appreciated. At the time of going to press, UltraTech Cement had gained 7.1 per cent since then and Ambuja Cements was up by 1.4 per cent and ACC gained 0.4 per cent.Good news from some companies that dispatches are also on the rise. Jaiprakash Associates has announced that its cement shipments in August rose 21 percent from a year earlier to 1.32 million tonne. ACC has announced that its production and dispatch figures for the month of August 2011 recorded an increase in sales at 1.88 million tonne compared to 1.57 million tonne in the corresponding period. Also the production increased from 1.56 million tonne to 1.88 million tonne.This is reassuring news for the industry. And hopefully, the days ahead will see better days for the sector.