Vietnam exports up, domestic market contracts

Vietnamese cement producers sold 8.09Mt of cement in August 2021, representing an eight per cent drop YoY as the COVID-19 pandemic suspended construction projects, according to the latest data from the Vietnamese Ministry of Construction. Of this total 4.97Mt were sold in the domestic market while 3.12Mt were exported.

In the January-August 2021 period total sales edged up four per cent to 70.77Mt, of which 43.54Mt were supplied to the domestic market, which contracted by five per cent YoY. Sales in Vietnam has been falling from April due to social distancing orders in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and a further 19 southern localities, said Nguyen Quang Cung, chairman of the Vietnam National Cement Association (VNCA). He expects that demand will continue to contract.

Sales to export markets increased 12 per cent to 27.23Mt in January-August 2021 when compared with the year-ago period. Overseas demand has expanded as major markets such as the EU, Canada, the USA and China have gradually returned to conditions that are closer to normal, according to the VNCA’s General Secretary, Associate Professor Dr Luong Duc Long. He also believes that thanks to the vaccination programme and the easing of social distancing measures in Vietnam, domestic sales will rapidly rise in the last months of this year.