Van Nam and Chi Thinh
Workers are seen at a building project in Dong Nai Province. The VSA has estimated this year's steel demand at 12.2-12.5 million tons, up only 3-5% over last year - Photo: Van Nam
According to the Building Materials Department under the Ministry of Construction, cement sales stagnated in the first two months this year but bounced back in March, with nearly 4.7 million tons consumed domestically and 1.7 million tons exported.
Vietnam Cement Industry Corp., the country’s leading market player, sold 1.65 million tons last month, an increase of 20.6% compared to the same period of last year.
Overall, the first quarter of this year saw 10.2 million tons of cement consumed on the domestic market, up 7% year-on-year.
By the end of March, inventories of both cement and clinker fell by 24% year-on-year to 600,000 tons and two million tons respectively.
Cement prices remained stable in February and March after decreases of VND30,000-VND40,000 a ton in January, except for Tam Diep’s cement whose prices tumbled by VND140,000 a ton in the first month of the year.
The Ministry of Construction has estimated this year’s cement consumption at 62-63 million tons, up a mere 3% year-on-year. Up to 49 million tons of it will be for domestic sale and the rest for export.
Last month, construction steel sales registered a slight year-on-year rise of 8% to 487,000 tons, according to the Vietnam Steel Association (VSA).
However, total domestic consumption of this building material in the first quarter slid by 1.8% year-on-year to 1.1 million tons. In this period, steel inventory amounted to 324,000 tons, up 13.8% over a year ago.
The VSA ascribed the steel inventory rise to imports in the first three months when total volume reached 2.2 million tons, a rise of 1.6% over the same period of last year. However, imported steel ingots contracted by 24% to 84,000 tons.
Nguyen Van Sua, vice chairman of the VSA, said the association forecast that steel sales would perform better in the second quarter because construction of more half-completed projects had been resumed.
The VSA said five million tons of construction steel was sold last year, a drop of 500,000 compared to the year before.
The major steel consuming sectors, including shipbuilding, automobile, engineering and construction, have not been in good shape this year. Therefore, the VSA has put this year’s steel demand at 12.2-12.5 million tons, up only 3-5% as against last year.
Experts assumed fiercer competition and low domestic demand could make more steel producers go bust this year.
Pomina boosts steel exports
Viet Steel Corporation (Pomina) has plans to export 35,000 tons of steel products every month in the second quarter of this year, or 15,000 tons lower than the monthly volume the company sells domestically.
Do Duy Thai, general director of Pomina, said that the company exported 35,000 tons of steel products to the Philippines, Laos, Cambodia and Indonesia among others.
The increase in exports is credited to Pomina’s penetration into new markets, including Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. Previously, the company exported about 15,000 to 20,000 tons per month.
Thai said increasing steel exports had helped Pomina and other steel manufacturers in Vietnam to stabilize their production and ensure jobs for their employees.
The Vietnam Steel Association estimated companies shipped nearly 2.5 million tons of steel products to Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Indonesia.
Đăng ký: VietNam News
