Posted on 03 Dec 2008
After the global price of steel billet went up, the domestic steel manufacturers hiked the price by 500,000 dong to 700,000 dong per tonne. But the volume of stored steel remained high.
Last week, steelmakers such as Vietnam Steel Corp (VSC) raised the price of rolled steel to 10.6-10.7 million dong (over US$683-689) a tonne.
Pomina firm's steel price was increased by 600,000 dong to 11.37 million dong (about US$670) per tonne of rolled steel and by 400,000 dong to 11.75 million dong (US$692) a tonne of steel bar. Similarly, Vina Kyoei also increased the steel price by 400,000 dong a tonne.
VSC reported its steel sale in October alone reached 20,000 tonnes which could be 45,000 tonnes this month. The figures of Pomina are estimated at 25,000 tonnes and 36,000 tonnes a month, respectively.
The global steel billet price recently jumped from the bottom of US$270-280 per tonne to over US$300 per a tonne, going up to even US$420-450 a tonne.
Dao Dinh Dong, marketing manager of VSC said that the gap in steel prices between the southern and northern region remains high. Southern provinces' steel price now is lower 500,000-700,000 dong a tonne than the northern region.
According to the Vietnam Steel Association, steel prices could continue soaring because
From January 2009,
To protect domestic steelmakers, Vietnam Steel Association also proposed to the authorities to raise the import tariff on finished steel from the current 8% to 20%, steel billet from 2% to 5% or 10%.
