Cement exported to South Africa

The Xuan Thanh Cement Joint Stock Company, a member of Xuan Thanh Group, will export 20 million tonnes of cement to South Africa over the next 10 years, under a recent agreement signed in Hanoi.

The agreement was inked with its United Kingdom partner on March 2.

As the company contracted with Ores&Minerals UK Ltd, the export deal is worth 1.2 billion USD and all shipments will be insured by Xuan Thanh Insurance Joint Stock Corporation.

Xuan Thanh Cement General Director Nguyen Xuan Thuy told Dau tu (Vietnam Investment Review) that his firm currently exports cement to Australia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Bangladesh and Chile.

The signing ceremony. Source: vnexpress.net

The firm has rapidly enhanced production capacity at its facilities in northern Ha Nam province and central Quang Nam province, and will do the same in southern Binh Phuoc province in the future.

The Xuan Thanh Group, which runs both cement and insurance companies, is preparing procedures to invest in the Kaito Ha Tien cement factory in Binh Phuoc's Hon Quang district, about 90km away from Ho Chi Minh City.

The group plans to pour more than 12 trillion VND (533.3 million USD) into Kaito Ha Tien, which was formerly named Minh Tam with an investment capital of roughly 4 trillion VND.

The Mien Dong Joint Stock Company, a construction firm listed on the HCM City Stock Exchange began construction of Minh Tam, in late 2011, and was expected to roll out its first product in late 2013.

However, Mien Dong suffered business losses and failed to assure progress of the project. It then transferred the plant to the ThaiGroup.

In a broader context, the Ministry of Construction reported that cement businesses in Vietnam sold 9.4 million tonnes of cement in the first two months of this year, an increase of 6 percent over the same period last year.

In February alone, the cement export volume rose by 7 percent month-on-month at 0.75 million tonnes, compensating for a fall in domestic sales.

The quantity of cement sold domestically in February reached 2.27 million tonnes, less than half of January's volume, as a result of a lengthening Lunar New Year holiday.

Industry insiders said cement consumption is expected to improve in the coming months following rallies in the real estate market, and this will support the sector's goal of selling 75 million tonnes to 77 million tonnes of cement this year.