Displaying items by tag: Ministry of Construction

Vietnam: Semen Indonesia plans to invest up to US$300m towards building a cement plant in Vietnam in the next five years as part of its business expansion in Southeast Asia. The Indonesian state-run cement producer intends for its subsidiary Thang Long Cement to build a 1.5Mt/yr cement plant, according to General Director Dwi Soetjipto. Construction is scheduled to start in early 2015 with a operation due to start in 2018.

Thang Long Cement currently holds a cement production capacity of 2.5Mt/yr and the new plant is intended to meet the increasing demand for cement in Vietnam and other Asian countries, including Singapore, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar. Semen Indonesia holds a 70% stake in Thang Long Cement. It has set a target of becoming one of the leading cement producers in Southeast Asia.

Vietnam will not face a shortage of cement in either the short or long term as the supply is estimated at 75 - 76Mt/yr in 2015 while demand in 2014 is estimated at 65 – 67Mt/yr, according to the Ministry of Construction. The local cement industry had around 2.59Mt of unsold products, mainly clinker, at the end of April 2014.

Vietnam: Companies in Vietnam sold 7.55Mt of cement in the first quarter of 2013, a 15% rise year-on-year compared to 2013 according to the Ministry of Construction. This occurred despite a year-on-year fall of 30% to 2Mt in March 2013. The country's cement production increased by 15% year-on-year to 8.14Mt, according to local media.

Due to the increase in cement sales between January and March 2013, the country's cement inventory dropped by 45% year-on-year to 40,000t. Local cement makers currently have huge inventories and domestic demand remains low due to a frozen real estate market. High production costs, high lending interest rates and rising input costs have also put a burden on local cement producers, the ministry noted.

The ministry predicts that the country's cement sales will rise by 5 - 8% year-on-year to 48 – 49Mt in 2013, equal to total sales of 2011. In 2012, Vietnam's cement sales stood at 53.6Mt, of which 45.5Mt was sold in the domestic market, down 7.1% on-year, while 8.1Mt of cement and clinker was exported, up 30%.