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| An engineer checks tiles at the Vietnam Italian Brick Factory. — VNA/VNS Photo Hoang Hung |
HCM CITY (Biz Hub) — The productivity of Viet Nam's ceramic industry is low, with the output of construction tiles at a mere 70 per cent of capacity, according to an industry bigwig.
Pham Van Bach, vice chairman of the Vietnam Building Ceramic Association, said tile output last year was 310 million square metres against a capacity of 450 million square metres.
Production of sanitaryware items was even lower - at 10.8 million items, a mere 60 per cent of capacity - he told a seminar on ceramic manufacturing technology organised by the Italian Trade Commission in HCM City yesterday.
Export of ceramic products last year fetched US$300 million of which sanitaryware represented 20 per cent, while imports, including through informal border trade, totalled $70 million, he said.
Production of ceramic products including tiles and sanitaryware rose by 5 per cent year-on-year in the first half of this year, he said, without providing figures.
Not only productivity but also the quality of ceramic products is low, he admitted.
Italy's trade commissioner in Viet Nam, Bruna Santarelli, told Italian and Vietnamese business executives at the event: "We believe in the strong growth of trade and investment co-operation in the field of ceramics between the two countries."
She expected the seminar to provide an opportunity to develop co-operation in and exchange information about technologies related to processing of raw materials, decoration, and distribution of finished products.
The outstanding feature of Italian ceramic technology is its environmentally-friendly nature that helps save fuel and raw materials while reducing harmful emissions. — VNS