Vietnam: cement industry warns of glut
Experts in the Vietnamese cement industry have warned of an oversupply in the domestic cement market, yet there are still more cement factories being built.
The supply of cement is forecast to be 10Mt higher than demand this year with 10 new cement factories becoming operational in addition to the 31 existing ones, according to Le Van Chung, chairman of the Viet Nam Cement Corporation’s management board.
"According to our calculations, by 2012, enough cement will have been produced to meet the country’s demand for the product until 2020; cement exporting will also be difficult," Chung said.
"It is clear that there is an unreasonable plan of development for the cement industry," said Tran Van Huynh, chairman of the Viet Nam Building Material Association.
The Ministry of Construction (MoC) has already approved four new projects this year, including two in northern Ha Nam Province, one in northern Bac Giang Province and one in central Nghe An Province, each with a capacity of 910,000t.
In defence of the new factories, Deputy Minister of Construction Nguyen Tran Nam said in the past many projects had not been able to be implemented which had lowered cement output. So, the additional four factories would fill the gap in the total output.
Published under Cement News
