HANOI: Vietnam’s steel product imports fell 15.6% year on year to 1.29 million mt in August, the second month in a row of decline, preliminary Vietnam Customs data released Wednesday showed. The declines follow Vietnam imposing antidumping taxes on steel products from China and other major suppliers earlier this year to curb soaring imports and safeguard domestic steelmakers.
Domestic demand in August remained strong, pushing local steelmakers to produce and sell more, the Vietnam Steel Association said in a statement last Friday. China was Vietnam’s largest supplier of steel products in August at 765,490 mt, down 25.6% year on year and accounting for more than 59% of the total, the customs data showed. It was followed by Japan at 192,250 mt, down 14.2% year on year, and South Korea at 156,990 mt, up almost 20% over the same period. Over January-August, Vietnam imported 12.36 million mt of steel products, up 24.9% year on year, mainly from China at 7.3 million, up 22.1% over the same period, Japan at 1.83 million mt, up 8.1% and South Korea at 1.18 million mt, up 3.3%.
Vietnam also exported 312,264 mt of steel products in August, up 60.8% year on year. The biggest buyers were Cambodia at 53,788 mt, down 15.1% year on year, Indonesia at 35,607 mt, up 20.4% and Malaysia 19,804 mt, up 7%. Over January-August, exports rose 36.2% year on year to 2.2 million mt, mainly to Cambodia at 419,702 mt, down 19.2% year on year, Indonesia at 341,511 mt, up 19.4% and Malaysia at 128,074 mt, down 17.7%.
Vietnam Steel Association members — the country’s major steelmakers –produced 1.53 million mt of steel products in August, up 29.1% year on year and up 5.7% from July. Around 1.3 million mt of the total was sold in the domestic market, up 38.7% year on year, and 269,922 mt exported, up 75%. Over January-August, VSA members produced 11.5 million mt of steel products, up 29% year on year; they sold 9.5 million mt of the total in the domestic market, up 29.3%, and exported 1.78 million mt, up 49.4%.
