New foreign-invested plant to start operation in northern Vietnam

The Taiwanese-bankrolled US$265m Phuc Son Cement Factory in Hai Duong province, about 50km south of Hanoi,  is said to have officially begun operations on May 5 following years of delays since construction began in 1996.  

The factory will help ease Vietnam’s reliance on imported cement and stabilise domestic cement prices, experts said.  

The factory will supply the market with 1.8Mta of cement, helping satisfy the country’s burgeoning demand for the product, which is expected to rise to 29.1Mt this year, said Chien-hsin Chen, the company’s general director.  

"We are moving ahead with plans for the second phase of the project, which aims to produce an additional 1.8Mt of cement each year," he said.  

Chen said that the biggest obstacle facing Phuc Son now was its inability to obtain a permit to mine the Trai Son C limestone deposit in the neighboring city of Haiphong. However, the government has recently promised to order relevant agencies to quickly approve a mining license for the company so as to put an end to any concerns over sources for raw materials.  

At present, Phuc Son factory is fed by more than 42Mt of limestone from the Nham Huong deposit in Hai Duong province and the Trai Son A mine in Haiphong city.  

Chen estimated that the amount of limestone the factory currently receives will fuel operation for 22 years, but it will need an additional 56 million tons over the 50-year lifetime of the investment license.