Vietnam: Ministry waives duty on clinker

Vietnam: Ministry waives duty on clinker
29 May 2008


The Ministry of Finance (MoF) decided to waive import duty on clinker from 10 per cent to zero in the wake of a proposal from the Ministry of Construction (MoC).
 
According to the Decision 29/2008/QD-BTC, the import duty exemption on clinker took effect on Monday.
 
The finance ministry said the exemption was made to deal with soaring cement prices and a shortage of cement in southern regions.
 
Previously, the MoC had proposed a clinker import tax reduction, explaining that a cut was necessary to stabilise domestic cement market as price of imported clinker was at a high level.
 
The high price of imported clinker is considered to be one of the reasons causing the cement shortage and raising prices of cement domestically.
 
Each tonne of imported clinker currently costs VND1m. After adding other production costs, the price of each tonne of cement made from imported clinker is VND1.4 million to VND1.5 million (US$93).
 
Vietnam this year would have to import roughly 3.5-4Mt of clinker to meet domestic cement demand of roughly more than 40Mt.
Published under Cement News