Vietnam: Vietnam's Ministry of Construction has proposed the creation of an association for cement and clinker exporters to curb 'unhealthy' competition among them. The proposal has been sent to the prime minister for approval.
In its proposal the ministry said that Vietnam's cement and clinker exports have been 'badly affected' because some companies cut export prices to 'unfairly' compete with the rest. At present Vietnam has eight cement and clinker exporters. Six, Vicem, Ha Long, Thang Long, Cam Pha, The Vissai and Cong Thanh, are domestic. The remaining two, Chinfon and Phuc Son, are joint venture companies.
The ministry has called on local cement companies to cooperate rather than undercut each other in order to liquidate their large inventories through exports. The inventories are the biggest challenge facing the industry, it said. Exporting is considered a temporary measure to deal with the rising inventories which were caused by frozen real estate market and unplanned construction of cement factories nationwide.
Vietnam held around 2.8Mt of cement in inventories at the end of June 2012. The figure is expected to rise to 6Mt by the end of 2012, an increase of 23% on year-on-year.
