Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam’s cement industry saw stronggrowth in cement exports in the first quarter of this year as many Chinese cementfactories shut down due to pollution and power shortages.

Nguyen Quang Cung, Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Building Material Association,made the announcement at a press conference on Vietbuild, held in the centralcity of Da Nang on April 17.

According to him, cement production in Vietnam in the first quarter of 2018increased by 18 percent year-on-year, marking the first time it had reachedhigh growth against an annual surge of some 10 percent.

Meanwhile, the industry’s cement exports in the first quarter of 2018 rose 68percent over the same period last year.

The strong growth was due to the policy changeof the Chinese government towards cement production, Cung said. China mustclose a series of cement plants from November 15, 2017, to March 15, 2018,because of environmental pollution and a shortage of electricity during thewinter.

The environmental pollution is very serious in the area reserved for developingcement plants, near Beijing. In winter, Beijing saw massive amounts of cementdust rise from these plants due to strong winds.

In addition, China is facing a shortage of electricity during the winter whenthe nation needs more electricity for heating. Meanwhile, cement production isone of the industries consuming a large volume of energy, he said.

These circumstances turned China, the global clinker exporter in 2016, into animporter of cement at the end of 2017. It has mainly imported clinker fromVietnam, at a volume of 1.5 million tonnes per month. Therefore, Vietnam’s clinkerexports skyrocketed in 2017.

The association expected to export 15 milliontonnes of clinker in 2017, but in fact, Vietnam exported up to 21 milliontonnes last year. China is likely to extend the closure of its cement plants,not only in Beijing but also in many other cities. This means China’s cementand clinker production will drop further, Cung said.

This situation will affect the development of the cement industry in Vietnam,he said. However, the domestic construction materials industry has to reviewits production to avoid facing a similar situation as China.-VNA