Cement industry has a giant mountain to climb

According to the Vietnam National Cement Association’s (VNCA) latest figures, in the year to the end of September, the country’s total cement output was 35 million tonnes, down 8 per cent year-on-year. The figure for clinker was 36.5 million tonnes, down 5 per cent. Only five million tonnes of clinker and one million tonnes of cement were exported during the period.

The inventory of cement and clinker hit more than 2 million tonnes during January-September due to economic woes and the government’s fiscal and monetary tightening. Nguyen Van Diep, office manager of the Vietnam National Cement Association (VNCA), said export should be the way out for local cement makers given the big inventory levels, but that road was also bumpy.

“It’s not easy to export due to difficulties related to infrastructure convenience, logistics costs and the decline in overseas demand amid the global economic woes. For instance, many cement joint ventures are located far from sea, leading to high transportation fees and higher export risk,” Diep said.

Nguyen Van Phuong, head of Phuc Son Cement Company’s import-export department, said that the company exported around 100,000 tonnes of clinker per month. At present, Phuc Son is exporting from Hon Gai Port with transport fee of VND45,000 ($2.14) per tonne. However, Quang Ninh port authorities recently asked cement companies to move from Hon Gai port to Hon Net port for exporting activities to protect the environment as Hon Gai port is near Halong city.

But the request means the transportation fees get higher for Phuc Son because Hon Net port is four hours farther away for Phuc Son compared with Hon Gai port. “The country’s undeveloped logistic system is impacting on the quality of cement.  Moreover, moving to the new port means it takes longer time and increases the transport fees while we will suffer from higher risk on products’ quality,” Phuong said.

Bao Quy, an assistant to Lucks Cement Company’s general director, said: “Due to tough economic climate in many countries, it is difficult to seek new markets for export. So far, we have not exported products abroad.”

So far, there are only eight  cement companies, including six domestic cement companies - Thang Long, Ha Tien, Bim Son, Halong, Hoang Mai, Hoang Thach Cement company, are exporting clinker and cement. Only two out of six cement joint venture companies -namely Phuc Son Cement and Chinfon Cement -have exports.

The two joint ventures account for about one-third of the 6 million tonnes of cement and clinker that Vietnam’s cement industry exported in the first nine months of this year.

The main export markets for Vietnam cement are Africa, Bangladesh, Angola and Southeast Asia nations. So far, every tonne of clinker in Vietnam is exported with the price of $36-$37 - the cheapest in Southeast Asia.

Le Van Toi, head of the Ministry of Construction’s Department of Building Material, said that the most difficult problem for export products from local and joint venture cement manufacturers is the issue of dumping prices.

“It is necessary to set up an organisation to gather and manage all exporters in order to increase their efficiency,” said Toi.