Minister requests Vicem to step up performance

The Vietnam Cement Industry Corporation (Vicem) has been challenged, at a working session, by Mai Tien Dung, Minister and Head of the Government Office, to attach special importance to restructuring and equitisation – two of the key tasks assigned by the Vietnamese government and the Prime Minister for the corporation.

The Minister stressed that Vicem must boost the quality and effectiveness of its operations. Minister Dung emphasised that VICEM should increase its share of the domestic market, improve corporate governance, streamline organisational structure, and increase the quality and competitiveness of its products.

The corporation was also asked to increase the value of the application of technology in its production chain, save input materials and take environmental issues into consideration when devising growth strategies. Better coordination with the transport sector is also required to reduce logistics costs, which now account for 20 per cent of the corporation’s product price.

According to a Vicem report, the corporation fulfilled its set production and business plan for 2017 with approximately 26.6Mt of cement being sold. The corporation reached a total revenue of VND34.1trn (US$1.49bn) and its profit before tax saw an increase of 7.1 per cent to VND2.85trn (US$124.8m).