Domestic steel prices rise

Steel prices increased from August 23, while experts expected the prices to continue rising next month.
Steel prices increased from August 23, while experts expected the prices to continue rising next month.

Nguyen Tien Nghi, deputy chairman of Vietnam Steel Association, said some steel producers had announced increased prices because of higher prices of pig iron and scrap metal.

Prices jumped from 600 USD to 620 USD per tonne for pig iron and 350 USD to 380 USD per tonne for scrap metal.

The devaluation of the Vietnamese dong versus the dollar US was another reason for the price increase, Nghi said.

Steel bars and wire rods produced by the HCM City based Viet Nam Steel Corporation (VNSteel) increased by 200,000-300,000VND (10.25-15.38 USD) per tonne to 14.98-15.2 million VND (768.2-779.5 USD) for steel products.

Steel produced by the Pomina Steel Corporation (Pomina) also increased by an average 330,000 VND (16.9 USD) per tonne to 14.7 million VND (753.8 USD).

Nghi said steel was one of the commodities that was the most difficult to set a long-term forecast for, especially at the moment because steel makers had to import 70 percent and 47 percent of pig iron and scrap metal, respectively, for domestic production. The domestic price of steel products would continue to increase in the coming time if the prices of material for steel production surge further on the world market, he said.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade expected that the world iron ore price might increase because India intended to increase the export tax rate for iron ore to 20 percent to restrict exports.

The domestic increase in prices began in July after four previous reductions in previous months.

Nghi said the association expected sales of steel this month to decline to 350,000-400,000 tonnes of steel against the sale at 460,000 tonnes in July due to the impact of recent storms./.

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