Do Van Chien, director of the MoIT’s Vietnam Trade and Information Centre, said cement prices would increase by 4-5 percent this quarter.

Demand for cement is expected to reach about 11 million tonnes this quarter, an increase of more than 12 percent compared with the first quarter.

Experts said rising demand for cement typically occurred at this time of year when the construction season kicked off.

“However,” Chien said, “It is difficult for enterprises to increase prices because of oversupply”.
With new cement production lines going into operation this quarter, output is expected to rise by 8.7 percent to 12.5 million tonnes.

But due to lack of regulation, there would be a cement surplus in the north and a shortage in the south this year, Chien said.

The PCB30 cement price currently stands at about VND897,000 – VND930,000 (US$42-48) per tonne while that of PCB40 is about VND920,000 – PCB30, VND1.4 million (US$48-73) per tonne.

According to the Prices Control Department, the country’s cement production in the first three months of this year reached about 10 million tonnes, of which 3.4 million tonnes alone came from the Vietnam Cement Industry Corporation.

In the same period, cement prices surged twice in January and February by 5 percent and 4 percent, respectively, due to rising input costs.

This year, total cement output is estimated to be 55 million tonnes, while consumption is just 50 million tonnes.

Last year, cement output reached 47.7 million tonnes, an increase of 19.2 percent over 2008.