The cement industry in Vietnam is struggling, several plants operate at low capacity utilisation. Vietnam’s rated cement capacity is 122.3 Mta, however 4 lines with 11.4 Mta capacity have not been started yet, while they have to service debts. The local cement consumption is not improving (photo: Vicem’s Hatien1) with a decline by -8.1%, YoY in the first 4 months 2024. The exports increased by +5.2% YoY in first 4 months 2024 (cement +3.1%, clinker +8.7%), but this does not outweigh the huge decline in the export prices. This year the export prices dropped to 31-32 US$/t for clinker and to 36-37 US$/t for bulk cement, while in 2022, FOB prices have been still 46-48 US$/t and 51-53 US$/t, respectively. Accordingly, the situation caused some cement producers at risk of bankruptcy.