Vietnam needs nearly 3.4 billion US dollars to build and upgrade its cement plants in the 2006-2010 period, the country's Construction Material Institute said Wednesday.

The capital is needed to construct new cement plants in the central and southern regions, and to replace the blast furnace technology used by existing plants with a more advanced reverter furnace technology, which enables bigger output, better quality and less harm to environment.

Vietnam is estimated to produce 22.3 million tons of cement, while consuming some 29 million tons of the product this year, the institute said, adding that the country's demand for cement would increase to 46.8 million tons by 2010, 62.5 million tons by 2015 and 69 million tons by 2020.

Vietnam, home to 13 reverter furnace cement plants and 53 blast furnace factories with combined yearly capacity of more than 22 million tons, posted total cement sales of some 26 million tons in 2004, up from 23 million tons in 2003, the institute said.

Source: Xinhua