Developing Vietnam's modern and sustainable construction materials industry

Secoin ceramic tile product display booth.

Along with the strong development of the economy, the demand for construction materials is also increasing, requiring this industry to constantly improve and develop to promptly meet market requirements.

Important industry

On November 9, at the workshop "Developing a modern and sustainable Vietnamese construction materials industry", Dr. Nguyen Quang Hiep - Director of the Institute of Construction Materials (Ministry of Construction) said that the construction materials industry has achieved significant progress in production capacity in recent years. Before 2010, many of our country's main products such as clinker, various types of tiles, sanitary porcelain, and construction glass still had to be imported to serve domestic construction needs.

Dr. Nguyen Quang Hiep - Director of the Institute of Construction Materials (Ministry of Construction) at the workshop.

However, up to now, construction material manufacturing enterprises have basically met the needs of construction and infrastructure development nationwide, many products have entered the export market such as clinker, energy-saving glass, ceramic tiles, paving stones, sanitary porcelain, industrial lime...

"These achievements not only help increase output and production efficiency but also contribute to enhancing the industry's position in the international market," said Dr. Nguyen Quang Hiep.

According to the leader of the Institute of Construction Materials, through statistics on production capacity and consumption of the construction materials industry, it can be seen that many sectors of our country have made remarkable progress in production and consumption. The production capacity of some important construction materials such as cement, ceramics, and construction glass has increased from several dozen times to hundreds of times after 40 years of development.

Along with that, the value of construction materials production is constantly increasing, the contribution rate of the construction materials industry to GDP is increasingly significant. By the end of 2023, the contribution of the construction materials industry to Vietnam's GDP will account for about 6 - 7%.

Associate Professor, Dr. Le Trung Thanh - Director of the Department of Construction Materials (Ministry of Construction) acknowledged that in the past 10 years, the total production capacity of key construction materials in Vietnam has grown to about 120 million tons of cement, 830 million m2 of tiles, 26 million sanitary ceramic products, 330 million m2 of construction glass, 20 billion fired clay bricks, 12 billion unfired bricks (standard), in which the output of cement and tiles is among the top in the world, with quality guaranteed to meet international standards.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Le Trung Thanh - Director of Department of Construction Materials (Ministry of Construction) at the workshop.

In addition, the level of technology, production organization, business, and environment of the Vietnamese construction materials industry is at the top among ASEAN countries. The total annual revenue of the construction materials industry is estimated at about 47 billion USD, accounting for about 11% of the national GDP (of which, construction materials excluding construction steel are estimated at 600,000 billion VND, equivalent to more than 24 billion USD, accounting for nearly 6% of the national GDP), making a significant contribution to the State's revenue, creating jobs for millions of workers, and at the same time participating in co-processing waste in construction materials production kilns, contributing to environmental protection.

Overcoming difficulties

Regarding the consumption of construction materials, Master Le Van Toi - Vice President of Vietnam Construction Materials Association said that the construction materials production industry to exploit the full capacity of production lines is a difficult problem, especially for environmentally friendly construction materials.

From 2023 to now, in the face of a world situation with many "prolonged risks and instabilities"; a sluggish real estate market; high raw material prices; and difficulties in the production and consumption of construction materials. Many enterprises have had to stop all or part of their production facilities, sustained losses, and increased bad debt. Confidence in the macro economy and industry economy is at an alarmingly low level, and enterprises must brace themselves to overcome this difficult time.

Accordingly, the leader of the Vietnam Association of Building Materials recommended that, in the immediate future, there should be a policy to continue reducing loan interest rates. Loan interest rates have decreased recently, but they are still too high, making it difficult to reduce financial costs for businesses.

Reduce tax rates and export taxes for construction materials in accordance with the spirit of the Tax Law, specifically cement clinker and natural stone tiles. Currently, these items are subject to high taxes like the export of raw minerals.

There are policies to increase the disbursement of public investment capital. Maximum application of reinforced concrete overpass construction method instead of embankment method to build highways along with strict management policy but must have support for real estate development.

In the long term, according to Master Le Van Toi, the State needs to maintain and strengthen policies to encourage and support businesses in transferring new technology, investing in modern production lines as well as improving technology.

Maintain and promote the implementation of policies to increase the production and application of environmentally friendly construction materials, especially their use; have policies to strongly promote the use of waste, especially household waste, as alternative fuel for construction materials production.

"The Ministry of Construction should study and propose to the Government and the Prime Minister a mechanism to prioritize the use of artificial sand in construction works; at the same time, there should be a planning of mineral areas to make artificial sand" - Master Le Van Toi suggested.

Source: https://kinhtedothi.vn/phat-trien-nganh-vat-lieu-xay-dung-viet-nam-hien-dai-va-ben-vung.html