News Room - Steel Industry

Posted on 01 Dec 2009

Local producers say hurt by cheap steel imports (Vietnam)

      

Local steel producers are facing a lot of difficulties due to huge imports of cheap products from China and Russia, an industry official said Monday.

During the first half of November alone more than 32,000 tons of cold-rolled steel coils were imported into Vietnam, mainly from China and Russia, Nguyen Tien Nghi, vice chairman of the Vietnam Steel Association, said in an interview with Thoi Bao Kinh Te Saigon Online.

Local demand for cold-rolled steel is only 1.4 million tons per year while annual output of the product has already reached 2 million tons, Nghi said.

Steel producers in Vietnam are already struggling with declining exports, and huge imports of cheap products is worsening the situation, he said.

Cold-steel supply is expected to outpace demand by a larger extent when new mills with huge capacities, including China Steel-Sumitomo and Formosa, start manufacturing in the future, Nghi said.

In an attempt to protect the local steel industry, the Vietnam Steel Association last week requested the Ministry of Science and Technology to set stricter standards on imported steel products to prevent cheap but low quality products from entering the country.

Pham Chi Cuong, Chairman of the Vietnam Steel Association, said in a report published by the Vietnam Economic Times last week said that total steel production in the country has already doubled demand.