HANOI: The most recently released trade data indicates that scrap steel imports by Vietnam during the month of May this year increased slightly over the previous month. The imports are up for the fourth straight month. The cumulative imports during the initial five-month period of the year have humped higher by almost a third when matched with the corresponding period last year.
Vietnam imported 369,000 tons of scrap steel during May ‘16. The scrap imports by the country have increased marginally by 0.4% when compared with the imports during the month before. The average import price of scrap steel during the fifth month of the current year stood at US$229.10 per ton. The average scrap import value increased marginally by over 17.8% when matched with the previous month. The scrap imports by the country amounted to $84.57 million ton during the month. The cumulative scrap imports by the country during Jan-May ’16 totaled 1.434 million tons, significantly higher by 33.2% when matched with the year before. The Vietnamese scrap steel imports had totaled 1.08 million tons during the initial five-month period in 2015.
The country’s scrap steel imports had totaled 368,000 tons in April this year. The imports had registered month-on-month rise of nearly 9.1%. The value of imports during the month amounted to US$73.065 million. The average import price had increased by $14.60 per ton to touch $198.70 per ton.
The scrap imports by the country had registered considerable jump of 77.8% in March this year when compared with the imports during the month before. The imports totaled 337,000 tons during the month. The average import price of scrap steel during March ‘16 stood at US$184.10 per ton, increasing marginally by over 3% when matched with the previous month. The country’s scrap import values jumped higher by 83.7% over the previous month to $62.03 million during March this year.
Vietnam imported 190,000 tons of scrap steel during Feb ‘16. The scrap imports by the country increased considerably by over 10% when compared with the imports during the month before. The value of scrap imports totaled $33,776 million during February this year, higher by 10.2% month-on-month.
The country recorded month-on-month decline in scrap steel imports only in January this year. The monthly imports dropped sharply by 35% over the previous month to total 172,000 tons. Although the average import price increased marginally by 2% during the month, the scrap import values by Vietnam dropped sharply by over 45% to $30.65 million in January. The cumulative scrap imports by the country during the entire calendar year 2015 had totaled 3.186 million tons. Going by the current rate, the estimated annual imports for 2016 currently stands at 3.44 million tons.
Meantime, the statistics released by the Vietnam Steel Association states that the country’s steel imports climbed higher significantly by 48% year-on-year during the initial four-month period of the year. The country’s imports of steel including raw materials and semi-finished steel products totaled 7.5 million tons during Jan-Apr’16. Non-alloy slab steel and finished steel accounted for nearly 90% of the total steel imports by the country during this period.
