The Finance Ministry November 19 decided to increase the import duty on clinker and cement to 10 and 38 per cent, respectively, the Lao Dong newspaper reported.

The ministry reduced import tax on clinker to zero percent in May.

Earlier, the Ministry of Construction (MoC) proposed the prime minister to slash import duty on clinker imported from non-ASEAN countries to 0 from 10 per cent (just for 2008) and from ASEAN countries to 0 from five per cent for shipments imported from April 20.

The MoC forecast that the national demand for cement this year will increase by between 10 and 14 per cent compared to last year.

Vietnam’s total cement output is estimated to reach 40Mt in 2008.