Cement exports struggle to compete

While exports were identified as a solution for the cement industry todeal with oversupply at home, there remains stiff competition from largeproducers, such as China, Thailand and Indonesia.

Statisticsshowed that cement and clinker exports in the first five months droppedby 24 percent over the same period last year to 5.8 million tonnes. TheMinistry of Construction said that cement exports to many markets werenot as large this year, especially to Bangladesh – the biggest importerof Vietnamese cement last year.

Further, steep drops in cement exports was worrying domestic cement producers.

Accordingto Nguyen Tien Dat, General Director of The Vissai Cement Group, cementand clinker export would hardly reached last year's results. He saidcement exports from Vietnam were struggling with rising supplies, whileimport demands had no signs of improvements.

In addition, cementprices from Vietnam were less competitive than many other producingcountries, according to the Vietnam Cement Association.

Competitionwith other major cement exporters throughout the world was also harshfor Vietnam, especially with China. Statistics showed that the world'stotal cement output was 4.18 billion tonnes last year, 60 percent ofwhich came from China.-VNA