At the beginning of 2018, Vietnam’s MOIT (Ministry of Industry and Trade) had projected that the domestic steel production in the country is expected to grow 20% this year of which highest growth had been projected in case of HRC. Now let us analyse how Vietnam’s steel sector has performed in first eleven months of Jan-Nov’18.
According to the latest numbers from Vietnam Steel Association (VSA), in first eleven months of 2018 (Jan-Nov), Vietnam’s steel production stood at 22.2 MnT, a surge of 16% against the corresponding period of previous year.
Vietnam’s steel sales during the same period increased by 24% y-o-y basis to 19.9 MnT and exports (finished steel) surged by 20% y-o-y basis to 4.34 MnT.
The highest growth in production and sales have been recorded in case of HRC as otherwise the sale and production finished steel during Jan-Nov’18 increased by 7% and 12% respectively y-o-y basis.
The country’s steel output in the month of November this year has recorded an increase of 16% y-o-y basis at 2.12 MnT against 1.83 MnT in Nov’17. However, if we compare the country’s steel output in November against the previous month, the same had plunged down by 4.2% as in Oct’18, Vietnam’s steel output stood at 2.21 MnT.
In terms of sales, Vietnam’s sale of steel products in Nov’18 has been recorded at 1.89 MnT, down by 3.4% against Oct’18 whereas up by 7.3% against Nov’17. Vietnam’s steel exports in Nov’18 stood at 0.43 MnT, up by 20% against Nov’17.
Vietnam’s steel import-export value during Jan-Oct’18
According to VSA, by the end of Oct’18, Vietnam’s import of finished steel and semi-finish steel products reached about 17.1 MnT with total import turnover reaching nearly USD 11.2 billion, an increase of 0.6% in volume and 2% in value against the figures recorded during Jan-Oct’17.
Out of Vietnam’s total steel imports during the period, China’s percentage contribution stands to be the highest at 46%. In the first ten months of 2018, country imported about 5.3 MnT of steel from China, down by 13% in volume but up by 10% in value against the corresponding period of 2017.
In terms of exports, Vietnam’s semi-finished and finished steel during Jan-Oct’18 reached about 6.57 MnT, an increase of 46% in volume y-o-y basis with export turnover reaching about USD 4.84 billion.
ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) still remains the key export destination for Vietnam with the percentage share of 55% in country’s total steel exports approximately 2.9 MnT in volume.
The MoIT had earlier mentioned in an interview that Vietnam’s steel industry is facing fierce competition from imports, along with many anti-dumping lawsuits in importing countries.
A problem of concern for Vietnam is the launch of anti-dumping investigation in several traditional ASEAN markets such as Thailand and Malaysia targeting steel products with Chinese origin or imported from China into Vietnam. The ministry advised steel firms to use domestic materials and strive towards closed production chain to avoid anti-circumvention investigations.
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