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Big coal consumers pay more
The country’s three major coal consumers - the cement, fertiliser and chemical industries - are having to pay 25-30 per cent more for the fossil fuel than they did in previous months, according to the Ministry of Finance.
The ministry said that it had sent a directive to the Viet Nam National Coal and Minerals Industries Group (Vinacomin), asking the State-owned corporation to co-operate more closely with major consumers before raising prices.
The Pricing Management Bureau under the Ministry of Finance has also sent dispatches to major coal consumers to advise them about price changes.
The move follows a prime ministerial instruction in August calling on the ministry and Vinacomin to set a price margin for major coal consumers in a bid to save the natural resource and minimise coal smuggling.
The ministry said that the price of rock coal had surged by between 25 per cent and 30 per cent since last month for phosphate and urea fertiliser producers, respectively.
Meanwhile, the price of dust coal for cement, paper and fertiliser producers has increased by 25 per cent.
The ministry said Vinacomin would be permitted to make another price hike in the fourth quarter of this year, but that it would still cost cement, paper and fertiliser corporations roughly 10 per cent lower than the export price.
It said that coal prices would be kept lower than the market price to lessen the impact on coal users.
Cement, paper and fertiliser producers have also been told to implement measures to reduce production costs in order to minimise the impact of price hikes.
Meanwhile, coal prices for the power industry would remain unchanged this year, the ministry said.
vietnamnet, vietnamnews
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