Vietnam's cement and clinker exports to reach US $1 billion

in 2019, the average price of cement and clinker was $42.1 per ton, bringing about $900 million in exports. Rising

export prices Vietnam's cement industry, with an annual production capacity of 120 million tons, continues to bring a lot of foreign currency to exports. Exports of cement and clinker reached 20.7 million tons in the first eight months of this year, although they grew by less than 1% in the same period,

according to Vietdata. But it brought in nearly $873 million in exports, up 12.3%, thanks to an 11.2% increase in export prices. After nine months of provisional calculation, the cement export turnover is about 900 million US dollars.

2018 is the first year for cement and clinker to join the $100 million export club, with a total turnover of $1246 billion and an output of 32 million tons.

Export prices rose by an average of 11.2%, which helped the export sector, considered to be resource-intensive, still increasing its turnover but reducing production. If the export structure in the past years was usually 2/3 of clinker and the remaining 1/3 was cement, today, the volume of cement exports is increasing, helping companies to add value, said Mr. Nguyen Quang Cung, chairman of

Vietnam Cement Association (VNCA). Cement and clinker exports after October are

forecast to exceed US $1 billion and may be completed with an export turnover of about US $130-1.35 billion.

The pillar is the group, and the big enterprise

Vietnam Cement has its name on the world map in 40 countries/regions. Especially in 2018, Vietnam exported more than 30 million tons and has become the largest exporter of cement.

But, in the long run, restructuring, reducing cement production and trade to focus on booming is the way the industry must be considered.

Vietnam has more than 60 manufacturing plants with a cement capacity of about 120 million tons, while Thailand has five manufacturers with a cement capacity of nearly 60 million tons.

It is worth mentioning that up to 2/3 of Vietnam's cement production lines have a capacity of 1 million tons per year, accounting for about 20% of the total output of the industry. Mr. Nguyen Cong Bao, Managing Director

of FICO Cement-YTL said that the minimum scale to ensure the competitiveness of the cement plant must be 2 million tons per year, and the scale of the cement business is at least to reduce costs and improve labor productivity. Investment in new technologies to ensure long-term efficiency requires 50 to 10 million tons per year.

Not to mention, the fragmented state of the cement market due to a large amount of investment diversification has led to many consequences, such as low labor productivity, inefficient investment in the industry, and lower operating standards, including environmental protection.

It has been proved that large cement manufacturers such as Vissai, Xuan Thanh and Visem always have more advantages in business and export negotiations.

Since 10 years ago, Vissai Cement Group has exported millions of tons of orders to Bangladesh and Indonesia when the new cement industry vigorously developed private enterprises to produce cement..

Also in August last year, the same group had exported its first batch of cement to the United States, where the market was particularly difficult. "After a two-year review of production conditions, the environment, and financial viability, a U.S. company has agreed to enter into a contract with the Vissai Cement Group to export cement directly to the U.S. market,"

the Visser representative said.