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Construction material prices on the rises
It is expected that the demand for cement may reach 4 million in December 2008, an increase of 10-12% over the same period of the last year, according to the Vietnam Cement Association.
Explaining the forecast, Nguyen Van Diep, Chief Secretariat of the Vietnam Cement Association, said that after the price fever that occurred in the south during April and June, northern producers have carried a large volume of finished products and clinker to the south. In addition, the lowering of the import clinker to 0% has also helped stabilize production and the market.
The demand for cement has shown signs of recovery. In October, 3.3 million tons of cement were sold in October, an increase of 9% over the same period of 2007. The same volume was seen in November, but this represented the 4% decrease compared with November of last year. According to the cement association, the flood in the north was the main reason that caused the fall.
However, the association believes that the consumption will increase in December and reach 4 million tons as the month is considered to be high construction season. Meanwhile, the recent open policies will help push up the construction process.
However, Diep has affirmed that there will not be any big changes in prices, like the ones seen at the beginning of the year.
In related news, the purchasing power of steel has recovered after four months of decreasing, according to the Vietnam Steel Association.
By the end of November, the association’s members had sold 310,000 tons of steel, double what was sold in October, raising the total sales in the first 11 months to nearly 3 million tons.
Prior to that, the Ministry of Industry and Trade sent a dispatch to the Prime Minister, asking for measures to settle the difficulties for the steel industry (lowering lending interest rates, and extending the debt payment)
The construction steel prices, not including transport fee and VAT, is hovering around VND 10.5-11.5 million/tael, up by VND 0.8-1.5 million/ton from October.
The association said that the ingot steel price offered to Vietnamese importers is between $400-450/ton, up by $100-150/ton from mid-November. However, there have been very few transactions, as Vietnamese companies still have 200,000 tons of finished products and 500,000 tons of ingot steel in stock.
TBKTVN
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