Vietnam coal giant to lay off 4,000 miners this year
The Vietnam National Coal and Mineral Industries Corporation (Vinacomin) is planning to lay off 4,000 workers in 2016, an official from the corporation said on October 12.
Vinacomin’s revenue reached US$3.2 million in the first nine months of 2016, equivalent to 93% of the same period last year.
The corporation's profits have fallen for five consecutive years, and coal output is also forecast to fall 8.7% this year.
This sharp decline is due to cheap imported coal that costs US$5-10 less per ton than local sources, according to Vinacomin.
In the first eight months of this year, the country imported nearly 10 million tons of coal worth US$574 million, three times higher than the figure the government had estimated for the entire year; and it is forecast to keep growing.
Vietnam produced approximately 21 million tons of coal per year from 2006 to 2011, data from Vietnam Customs shows.
