Vietnam: Authorities in Vietnam's central province of Quang Tri have decided to withdraw the investment license of a US$47m cement plant due to its sluggish implementation without legitimate reasons.

The plant, named Roli-Quang Tri, is located in Cam Tuyen commune, Cam Lo district and is the largest project in the province. Construction of the plant, which has a planned cement production capacity of 1.2Mt/yr, commenced in June 2009. Construction was subsequently delayed as the company is unable to continue the project, said Nguyen Duc Cuong, chairman of People's Committee of Quang Tri province.

Prime minister Nguyen Tan Dung earlier approved a proposal by the Vietnam Building Material Association to cancel nine cement projects with a total capacity of 2500t/day in order to keep in line with market demand. The prime minister also agreed to extend the deadline for the construction of seven other projects, including He Duong II, My Duc, Thanh Son, Tan Thang, Do Luong, Tan Phu Xuan and Nam Dong, until after 2015.

Currently, local cement makers have faced many difficulties due to having a huge inventory and low domestic demand, caused by the frozen real estate market. In addition, high production costs, high lending interest rates and rising input costs have also put heavy burden on local cement producers.

Vietnam's cement sales are predicted to rise by 1.5% to 3% year-on-year to between 62Mt and 63Mt in 2014, including 48.5Mt to 49Mt of domestic sales and 13.5Mt to 14Mt of exports.