The growing prices of imported steel materials will raise the prices of steel products on the domestic market, but not sharply, reports an industry insider.
In addition to price hikes, Vietnam’s steel sector will face other difficulties in 2010, especially fierce competition from imported steel as domestic steel products do not enjoy tax incentives, in line with the country’s commitments to the World Trade Organisation (WTO), said the Chairman of the Vietnam Steel Association, Pham Chi Cuong.
Cuong said that a number of new steel plants in Vietnam will begin production in 2010, thus widening the imbalance between supply and demand and this will cause unhealthy competition amongst domestically-produced steel products.
However, he was optimistic that the steel industry will keep growing thanks to the long-lasting effect of the stimulus packages the government launched in 2009 as well as the increasing demand for steel on both local and world markets.
The steel sector was one of the country’s few heavy industries that recorded a high growth rate in both production and sales last year, at 25 percent and 30 percent respectively. A number of companies even posted a sales growth of more than 40 percent year on year.
In 2009, the industry produced a total of 4.7 million tonnes of steel ingots, almost 7 million tonnes of steel products for the construction industry, 2 million tonnes of cold-rolled steel and 1.2 million tonnes of steel plates.
The association forecasts that the country’s steel consumption will surge by 10 percent this year from a volume of 5.3 million tonnes in 2009./.
In addition to price hikes, Vietnam’s steel sector will face other difficulties in 2010, especially fierce competition from imported steel as domestic steel products do not enjoy tax incentives, in line with the country’s commitments to the World Trade Organisation (WTO), said the Chairman of the Vietnam Steel Association, Pham Chi Cuong.
Cuong said that a number of new steel plants in Vietnam will begin production in 2010, thus widening the imbalance between supply and demand and this will cause unhealthy competition amongst domestically-produced steel products.
However, he was optimistic that the steel industry will keep growing thanks to the long-lasting effect of the stimulus packages the government launched in 2009 as well as the increasing demand for steel on both local and world markets.
The steel sector was one of the country’s few heavy industries that recorded a high growth rate in both production and sales last year, at 25 percent and 30 percent respectively. A number of companies even posted a sales growth of more than 40 percent year on year.
In 2009, the industry produced a total of 4.7 million tonnes of steel ingots, almost 7 million tonnes of steel products for the construction industry, 2 million tonnes of cold-rolled steel and 1.2 million tonnes of steel plates.
The association forecasts that the country’s steel consumption will surge by 10 percent this year from a volume of 5.3 million tonnes in 2009./.
