The Vietnam Steel Association (VSA) predicts that consumption for steel in both domestic and foreign markets will maintain stable growth until year’s end, after rises in production and sales over the last 10 months.
A recent rise in anti-dumping lawsuits in the local steel industry has steelmakers worried.
Hoa Phat Group has announced that it churned out 179,400 tonnes of construction steel in August, 9,500 tonnes of which were for export.
Vietnamese steel has faced nearly 10 trade remedy cases in just over a month, which has once again put the industry under great pressure from trade barriers in other countries.
Vietnam’s steel exports rose 40.4 percent year on year to 3.41 million tonnes in the first seven months of the year, raking in 2.53 billion USD, up 56.3 percent.
Improving material supply and proving product origin are ways to limit the impact of trade defence lawsuits amid the growing US – China trade war, according to insiders.
Business associations have voiced their support for stricter management of scrap imports, but they also underlined the need to continue importing these goods to serve domestic production.
Domestic consumption of steel in June dropped 14.9 percent compared to May to 1,794,193 tonnes and production output also fell 1.25 percent month on month to 2,058,445 tonnes, according to the Vietnam Steel Association.
Vietnam’s steel production reached about 4.69 million tonnes in the first half of 2018, up 7 percent against last year, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade.
Improving competitive capacity to expand export markets and understanding of international trade regulations are significant for Vietnamese steel firms to respond to trade defence lawsuits in the context of growing protectionism, said Chairman of Vietnam Steel Association (VSA) Ho Nghia Dung.
Despite the imposition of anti-dumping duties on colour-coated steel products by Indonesian authorities, Vietnamese steel producers should not worry about the possibility of losing competitiveness, according to the Vietnam Steel Association (VSA).
Vietnamese steel producers should follow laws and requirements on origin when exporting their products to the United States, suggested Ho Nghia Dung, Chairman of the Vietnam Steel Association.
The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) is working with steel businesses to handle procedures required by the US Department of Commerce (DoC) to seek exemption from duties by proving their products are not made from Chinese materials.
Vietnam’s steel industry has high potential to reach a production growth rate of 22 percent and expand export markets this year.
Steel will be included in the country’s key export items besides fruits, garment and textile, footwear and seafood products, an official from the Ministry of Industry and Trade has said.
With growth of up to 22 percent forecast this year and firms with bright prospects, Vietnam’s steel industry has high potential to reach many markets if it overcomes difficulties in trade defence lawsuits and high import volume.
Many domestic businesses expect the newly signed CPTPP will bring positive effects on Vietnam through the expansion of export market along with access to the abundant materials sources.
Vietnam’s total steel exports in the first two months of the year rose 38.6 percent from the same period last year to more than 728,000 tonnes, according to the Vietnam Steel Association (VSA).
