Vietnam is estimated to have produced 11Mt of cement in the first quarter of this year, rising one per cent from a year earlier, the government-run General Statistics Office said.

In March the country’s cement output is likely to rise 11 per cent from the same month of last year to 6Mt, the office said in a monthly report released Sunday. The office also revised down the country’s cement output in the first two months to 10.4Mt from earlier estimated of 10.8Mt.

The Ministry of Construction forecast that Vietnam’s sales of cement and clinker will rise 4-7 per cent YoY to between 75Mt and 77Mt in 2016.

Vietnam has become the fifth biggest cement producer and consumer in the world after China, India, Iran and the USA. The country now has 76 cement production lines with a combined output of 81.56Mta.