Total cement consumption in Vietnam increased to 5.812Mt in June, representing a YoY rise of 126 per cent and a MoM fall of nine per cent, according to the Vietnam National Cement Assocation (VNCA).

Of this total, the VICEM group supplied 1.82Mt, up 110 per cent YoY, while joint venture companies delivered 1.643Mt, an advance of 115 per cent. Other domestic cement producers saw their combined sales rise by 147 per cent to 2.35Mt.

Exports from Vietnam in June saw a 174 per cent hike to 2.216Mt YoY but noted an eight per cent decrease when compared with the previous month.

Vietnamese cement producers exported around 0.917Mt of cement (+296 per cent YoY) and 1.3Mt of clinker (+135 per cent YoY) in June. Clinker was mainly exported to Bangladesh (~4.5Mt) and China (~3.6Mt). The Philippines imported just over 1Mt of clinker with Taiwan also taking in a significant quantity. Vietnamese cement was shipped overseas to the Philippines, which purchased just short of 2Mt. Much smaller volumes (less than 0.5Mt) went to destinations such as China, Malaysia and Taiwan amongst others.

The VNCA expects total domestic consumption to reach 33.377Mt by the end of 2018. Export forecasts from the association indicate a total export volume of 15.833Mt, consisting of 11.742Mt of clinker and 4.092Mt of cement.