Cement businesses expect to "brighter" growth thanks to public investment and exports

Cement businesses set high expectations for recovery in 2024.

According to statistics from the Ministry of Construction, in the 11 months of 2023, the whole country produced more than 80 million tons of cement, of which 52 million tons were consumed domestically, 29 million tons were exported, a decrease of 12% in production volume and a decrease in 16% in consumption compared to the same period last year.

Mr. Luong Duc Long, General Secretary of the Vietnam Cement Association, said that from 2020 to 2023, cement businesses suffered many adverse impacts, such as the increase in clinker export tax and the impact of a decline in cement production. The frozen real estate market and real estate businesses "stalled and delayed progresses of many plans.

Therefore, the business results of large to medium-sized domestic cement enterprises recently have not been very positive. For example, the third quarter 2023 financial report of Bim Son Cement Joint Stock Company revealed its 5th consecutive quarterly loss of nearly 56 billion VND. Accumulated for the first 9 months of 2023, Bim Son Cement had a net loss of nearly 108 billion VND, while in the same period last year the profit was nearly 94 billion VND.

Similarly, VICEM But Son Cement Joint Stock Company recorded a net loss of nearly 32 billion VND in the third quarter, a cumulative 9-month loss of more than 64 billion VND, in contrast to a profit of more than 55 billion VND year on year. VICEM But Son Cement said that the main reason for the loss of business results was due to a sharp decrease in cement consumption, causing net revenue declines. Besides, rising interest costs also "erod" the profits of businesses.

Hoang Mai Cement Joint Stock Company also said that due to lower demand and large clinker inventories, the business had to proactively stop the kiln in July and reduce kiln productivity, causing clinker output in the third quarter to be shrank. In addition, the average price of domestic cement in the third quarter, the price of clinker as well as the selling price of exported cement in the third quarter all witnessed dip, hitting the company's profits sharply. Accumulated for 9 months, the business had an after-tax loss of nearly 26 billion VND while the same period last year had a profit of more than 15 billion VND.

In addition, most other cement enterprises also share the same losses ranging from a few billion VND to more than ten billion VND. A representative of the Vietnam Cement Association said that cement consumption in 2023 recorded a maximum of 90 million tons, of which domestic sales were about 57-60 million tons, exports were about 27-30 million tons, but it is difficult to escape negative growth due to many discouraging impacts.

Entering 2024, in particular, the cement industry is placing high expectations on efforts to promote public investment because from the last months of 2023 to early 2024, the Government has been drastically issuing many directions to promote public investment, implementing many key transport infrastructure projects, along with the approval of many industrial and urban infrastructure projects.

Regarding exports, businesses are also trying to expand their markets, shifting to markets such as the US, Australia, North America, South America and Africa to reduce dependence on China and promote its strengths with a total design capacity of up to 120 million tons/year.

However, according to the Vietnam Cement Association, some countries importing Vietnam's cement and clinker continue to implement protection policies for domestic cement production and technical trade barriers. In particular, the Philippines, the largest import market, impose temporary anti-dumping taxes on Vietnamese cement. Furthermore, fastidious markets such as Europe implement carbon emission reduction mechanisms. Therefore, market expansion is necessary even though output is not much, so businesses must further promote trade promotion activities. A positive sign is that a number of businesses have had export orders to the US - a market with high standards and fastidiousness.

​In addition, experts say that cement businesses need to innovate technology, invest in-depth renovation, efficient use of energy and sustainable development solutions to both reduce production costs and enhance competitiveness in order to meet increasingly high standards of environmental protection in the international market. In addition, businesses recommend that authorities continue to have supportive policies and policies consistent with the development of the industry.