Vietnam cement manufacturers are estimated to have produced 12.1Mt of cement in the first quarter of this year, down 10.7% from a year earlier.

In March alone, the Southeast Asian nation is likely to have produced 5.3Mt of cement, down 1.4% YoY, the government’s General Statistics Office (GSo)  said on a monthly report released late Thursday.

The GSO has also revised down the country’s cement production in Jan-Feb period to 6.8Mt from earlier estimated figure of 7Mt.

Vietnam’s cement output is forecast to reach 73Mt due to eight new cement plants coming on-stream with combined production capacity of 6.9Mt. However, cement consumption pegged at just 60Mt this year, surplus capacity is challenging the local production base.