Hassan Bakshi, former chairman Association of Builders and Developers (ABAD), said lingering political and economic uncertainty and massive increase in prices of construction materials were the main reasons behind falling cement sales in addition to rain and floods in July and August. Local cement despatches by the industry during October were 3.89m tonnes compared to 4.6m tonnes in October 2021, while exports fell by 41pc to 362,350 tonnes in October from 611,378 tonnes in October 2.