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May 21, 2018 / 10:03

Steel industry maintains positive growth

The production and sales of steel products in the first four months of this year increased significantly compared to the same period in 2017, according to the Vietnam Steel Association (VSA).

Specifically, VSA members produced more than 3.69 million tons and sold nearly 3.86 million tons of crude steel in the period. Finished steel products reached over 7.59 million tons, up 23.1 percent over the same period in 2017 and up 41.7 percent over the same period of 2016.
 
Steel exports reached more than 1.43 million tons in four months
Steel exports reached more than 1.43 million tons in four months
A total of nearly 6.7 million tons of all types of steel were sold, up 35.2 percent over for the same period in 2017 and 38.8 percent compared to four months of 2016. The production of construction steel alone reached nearly 3.2 million tons while more than three million tons were sold. The production and selling numbers of steel pipe were 742,000 tons and 735,000 tons, respectively.
As for export, according to VSA, as of the end of March 2018, exports of finished steel products reached more than 1.43 million tons, with a turnover of more than US$1.04 million, up 38 percent in volume and 57 percent in value. 
ASEAN was still the major export market, with export volume of more than 834,000 tons of steel, accounting for more than 58 percent of the country’s total steel export volume.
Vice Chairman of Vietnam Steel Association (VSA) Nguyen Van Sua forecast that the steel industry will continue on its high growth trajectory of 20-22 percent this year) thanks to rising market demand.
The strongest growth will be seen in the production of hot-rolled steel with 154 percent, followed by welded steel pipe (15 percent), colored galvanized steel (12 percent), construction steel (10 percent), and cold-rolled steel (5 percent). 
A good number of projects are in the pipeline in 2018, like Hoa Phat Group’s steel project in Quang Ngai province with a capacity of 2 million tons per year, Hoa Sen Group’s cold-rolled steel production line in BinhDinh province (350,000 tons per year), and the three construction steel projects of Pomina, Vietnam-Italia, and Tung Ho, which can produce over 1.8 million tons a year. 
Therefore, the volume of steel products will skyrocket during the year. The production of iron is expected to rise by 75 percent against 2017 to 7,500 tons, while steel billets will soar by 14 percent to 14,000 tons. 
Sua said VSA would proactively participate in developing national standards for steel products and technical barriers as well as promote the application of trade defense instruments to protect the domestic industry amidst rapid international integration.
The association will work with the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT)’s Vietnam Competition Authority and local steel firms to closely monitor steel product transactions related to trade defense.
Also, predicting that Vietnam would continue to be a fast-growing market for steel this year, Nghiem Xuan Da, chairman of Vietnam Steel Corporation, suggested that the government should increase the promotion of investment and international co-operation and stimulate steel consumption demand by incentivizing developing industries, such as construction, ship building, and mechanics.
VSA’s statistics showed that steel output reached more than 22 million tons in 2017, a year-on-year increase of 23.5 percent, with a sold volume of nearly 19 million tons, up 20.7 percent. The industry recorded export revenue of more than $3.64 billion, up 45.4 per cent against 2016.
Vietnam imported nearly 20 million tons of steel in 2017, worth $10.5 billion, a drop of 14.2 percent in volume but a rise of 13.2 percent in value.