Posted on 25 Sep 2008
Sumitomo, China Steel asked to relocate planned mill
Vietnam asked Sumitomo Metal Industries Ltd and China Steel Corp to shift a US$1.15 billion steel project from its planned location in the south of the country, according to a government official.
"Prime minister Nguyen Tan Dung has asked the project's investors to find another location for the mill since Ba Ria-Vung Tau has too many steel projects already,'' Phi Dinh Luc, head of project management of industrial zone authority in Ba Ria-Vung Tau province, said by phone today.
China Steel's plan to form a venture with Japan's Sumitomo Metal in southern Vietnam was rejected by the Vietnamese government, the Taipei-based United Daily News reported today, citing an unidentified China Steel official. Kaohsiung, Taiwan-based China Steel is the island's largest maker of the metal.
Vietnam's steel consumption will fall this year after the central bank raised interest rates to slow inflation and the government curbed investment at state-owned companies, according to the Vietnam Steel Association. The country last year consumed 10.2 million metric tonnes of steel, the group said on September 17. About 60% of steel is imported.
