South’s cement plants fail to meet demand

The south will still need 12-12.5 million tonnes of cement transported from the north, even though the region has more cement production factories.

The Viet Nam Cement Association said demand for the product in the southern market often reached 17.5-18 million, but total production capacity of cement makers in the area was 7.3 million. Makers expected to produce 5.5 million of cement this year.

At present, there are five cement production factories in the south that use local materials: Ha Tien 2, Holcim Viet Nam, Tay Ninh Cement Factory, Binh Phuoc Cement Factory and Binh An Cement Factory. Other cement makers have to import and transport material from abroad or the north to produce cement.

To tackle the shortage, the Ministry of Construction asked investors in four projects to build cement factories in the south to get them up and running as soon as possible. The plans include factories built by Ha Tien 2 Joint Stock Company, Holcim Viet Nam Cement Company, An Phu, and Minh Tam.

The Viet Nam Cement Industrial Corporation (Vicem) also urged its members to put a cement grinding station in District 9, HCM City, the Long An Cement Grinding Station and Quang Tri Cement Grinding Station into operation within the second quarter of this year.

Sales soar

Cement sales amounted to nearly 4.5 million tonnes in April, a year-on-year increase of 11.2 per cent, according to the Ministry of Construction.

The figure was 230,000 tonnes higher than in March, and is expected to increase in May.

Prices, however, are not expected to escalate because there is an abundant stock of cement in the country.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade said the price hike in coal and electricity was the reason behind the slight increase in production costs and in cement prices (VND50,000 per tonne) in the north.

Cement is selling for VND900,000 to VND1.2 million per tonne in the north and VND1.2 million to VND1.4 million per tonne in the south.

The southern provinces consume about 40 per cent of the country’s cement production.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade has said cement prices would not soar in May despite a sharp increase in demand in the local market.

vietnamnet, vietnamplus

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