Lao cement producers urged to prepare ahead of AEC
Lao cement producers urged to prepare ahead of AEC
Lao cement producers are urged to increase their production and competitiveness in response to the high demand for cement products in Laos ahead of the Asean Economic Community in 2015.
The demand for cement was estimated at 2.8 million tonnes for 2014 and is expected to increase by 5-10 percent in the next ten years.
Currently cement factories in Vientiane can produce 450,000 tonnes per annum and the total production capacity of cement factories in the country is about 1.7 million tonnes per year, but the demand for cement on the domestic market is over 2 million tonnes.
It means Laos still has a lack of cement producing capacity while demand is only expected to increase.
At a r ecent cement producers' group meeting, the group members agreed to increase cement production quality and quantity to secure stable prices of cement in 2015, according to the Secretary of the Cement Producers Group, Mr Inpone Phatthananoulack.
“Herewith, we plan to encourage new cement factories to become group members to ensure that we can oversee quality, quantity and price,” he said.
Mr Inpone urged domestic cement producers to adjust their business operations and prepare for the upcoming AEC in 2015.
Coal is the main energy source required to produce cement so it needs huge capital to spend in order to sufficiently supply production facilities.
Most domestic cement producers still use anthracite coal in cement production and it seems that there is not much of this coal left compared to lignite coal.
Therefore they should change to use other materials, in particular lignite coal, if not they will face problems in the production process, Mr Inpone said. If we change to use lignite coal, it will be able to cut up to 30 percent from the cement price, he added.
However, currently we still face technical difficulties in regards to changing the machine systems to use lignite coal, Mr Inpone commented.
vientiane times
