Vietnam firms ship cement to US amid domestic market gloom

Major Vietnamese cement manufacturers Xuan Thanh and Nghi Son have penetrated the U.S. market as the construction sector at home remains quiet due to the ailing property market.

A vessel carrying 55,000 tons of Xuan Thanh-branded cement left Cam Pha port in northern Vietnam’s Quang Ninh province for Louisiana on July 12.

Xuan Thanh Cement Joint Stock Company’s first shipment to the U.S. is due to arrive in the state in August, the Vietnamese company said.

The shipment is low-alkali Type I/II cement manufactured subject to American standards ASTM C-150 and exported under a long-term contract with an international partner, Xuan Thanh said, without disclosing the partner’s name.

According to the company, the cement is made on a production line supplied by FLSmidth & Co., a Copenhagen-based provider of mining and cement equipment and services.

The U.S. is Xuan Thanh’s newest overseas market. The others include Singapore, Australia, mainland China, South Africa, the Philippines, Bangladesh, Taiwan, Chile, Peru, and Guatemala. The company said it has so far shipped Xuan Thanh cement to more than 20 countries and territories.

In May, Nghi Son Cement Corp. (NSCC) exported its first 31,500 tons of cement to the U.S. The company said the shipment also met ASTM standards.

NSCC was established in 1995 as a joint venture between state-run Vietnam Cement Corporation (Vicem) and Japanese corporations Taiheiyo Cement and Mitsubishi Materials.

In March this year, Lotus Cement & Commodities Trading Corporation, a Ho Chi Minh City-based trader, completed an export order of 55,000 tons of cement for markets in Central America. The supplier was Thanh Thang Cement Factory in the northern province of Ha Nam.

Vietnam’s building materials industry has become quiet since April 2022 when the domestic real estate market started to fall into a prolonged tough period due to the credit crunch and liquidity woes.

The country's cement exports have exerienced record lows for years. According to a Vietnam Cement Association (VNCA) report, Vietnam's cement exports in the first quarter of this year decreased by 25% from a year earlier to only 8.1 million tons. Turnover totaled $345 million, down 24.6%.

The main reasons, according to the report, were prolonged global economic headwinds and decreased demands in major overseas markets like China, Bangladesh, and the Philippines.

The Philippine Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) in December 2022 decided to impose anti-dumping duties on cement imported from Vietnam for five years.

KIS Vietnam Securities has said that Vietnam's cement industry will face challenges in the short and medium term. It mentioned three key reasons - low domestic demand, fiercer competition both at home and overseas, and improvements in technology and changes in Vietnamese regulations on the ratio of additives, which will push the industry into excess capacity, in addition to the new clinker export tax.