Displaying items by tag: Vietnam

Vietnam: Vietnam's industrial production grew by 6.8% in 2011, lower than that of 2010, according to data released by the Vietnam General Statistics Office (VGSO). Manufacturing industries, the inventory indices of which rose sharply in 2011, include cement, which was up by 64% year-on-year. 

Meanwhile, Vietnam is forecast to export 0.5Mt of cement and 5.5Mt of clinker in 2012, according to an official from the Vietnam National Cement Association (VNCA). The VNCA's Chief, Nguyen Van Diep, said that Africa would be the targeted market for most of the material.

Vietnam's cement output is forecast to rise to 73Mt in 2012 due to the additional operation of eight new cement plants that have a combined production capacity of 6.9Mt/yr. Meanwhile, the country’s cement consumption is predicted to be around 60Mt in 2012, accounting for 86% of the sector’s total production.

Diep maintained these targets despite cement sales in 2011 falling short of the 54.5 - 56Mt forecast. Cuts in public investment and frozen real estate projects have cut demand significantly in 2011, to around 49Mt.

Vietnam: Vietnamese cement producers are facing calls to end subsidies on buying electricity. According to Minister of Finance Vuong Dinh Hue, cement and steel producers enjoyed subsidies of US$120m in 2010, with foreign investors netting US$24m of this total.

Hue raised the issue at the latest National Assembly whilst explaining the loss incurred by Vietnam Electricity (EVN). Citing the auditing results in 2010, Hue said that the cement and steel industries consumed 11% of the total commercial electricity output (982Mkwh). The problem was that the producers only had to pay US$0.04/kwh used, while the electricity production cost was

US$0.06/kwh in 2010, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade. Naturally foreign investment has flocked to Vietnam, turning the country into a production base for export.

"We need to settle the problem when regulating the pricing mechanisms," Hue said before the National Assembly.

Member of the National Assembly's Finance & Budget Committee Nguyen Huu Quang, who once worked for the Vietnam Cement Corporation, said that EVN now has to pay US$0.06/kwh for electricity it buys from China, but that it has to sell at less than US$0.05/kwh to cement producers.

"I asked many times to restrict the export of cement and clinker, because the export prices are lower than the domestic prices. In exporting, enterprises can earn profits, but the State cannot, while the subjects for subsidisation in the society, also cannot enjoy any benefits from this," Quang said.

Vietnam: The Vietnamese finance minister, Vuong Dinh Hue, has announced that the national government will provide capital to help four cement projects to deal with their foreign debts. The four projects were among 16 in the cement sector that had government-guaranteed loans from foreign creditors worth USD1.36bn. The Hoang Mai cement project reported a total debt of USD145m, followed by Tam Diep with a total debt of USD139m, Thai Nguyen at USD59m and Dong Banh at USD45m.

Hue said that the finance ministry would assist with up to three scheduled payments for the four troubled projects, but that if they continued to miss subsequent payments, the plants would have to sell up some of their assets.

The ministry earlier proposed that the Prime Minister should ask the Ministry of Construction to review planning measures in the cement sector and suspend the issuance of guarantees for the new cement projects while waiting for the Prime Minister's decision.

Vietnam: According to figures released by the government's General Statistics Office, cement producers in Vietnam are estimated to have made 18.7Mt of cement in the first four months of 2011, a year-on-year increase of 11.5%. In April 2011 the country's cement output was estimated at 5.5Mt, up by 12.1% on the year.