Vietnam May Remove Clinker Tariff

Vietnam may remove clinker tariff

HANOI, May 13 (Xinhua) –Vietnam is likely to reduce clinker import taxes to zero percent from five percent on the material imported from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and 10 percent from non-ASEAN countries and regions.

Under a proposal by the Vietnamese Construction Ministry to the Finance Ministry, the tariff removal aims to stabilize the domestic cement market, when import prices of clinker, key material for cement production, have been high, standing at 70-75 U.S. dollars per ton, according to local newspaper Vietnam Economic Times on Tuesday.

Vietnam’s cement demand is estimated at over 40 million tons in 2008. Meanwhile, domestically-produced clinker supply can serve production of some 35 million tons of cement.

Vietnam is estimated to import 3.5-4 million tons of clinker this year. It imported nearly 3.7 million tons of the material, mostly from Thailand, in 2007, down 4.1 percent against 2006, said the Trade Information Center under the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

The country, producing nearly 8 million tons of cement in the first quarter of this year, is intensifying production of clinker, so it will not have to import the material in 2009, according to the Construction Ministry.

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