Steel Prices to Increase Slightly in May

Steel Prices to Increase Slightly in May

Steel prices in Vietnam will rise slightly in May due to increases in imported steel ingot prices of US$5-10 per ton, predicted the government market watchdog.

At present, the prices stand at VND8.1-8.3 million (US$513-525.5) per ton for rolled steel and VND8.1-8.2 million (US$513-519.3) for steel bars.

China removed a policy to support 13 per cent of steel and steel ingot export tax for the local steel sector as of April 1, causing high increased steel export prices, said the Vietnam Steel Association (VSA).

To cope with this situation, VSA asks local producers to actively look for replacing steel sources from other markets such as Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and Japan; increase capacity; and take advantage of domestic steel waste.

The country also needs to speed up progress and quickly implement steel ingot producing projects.

Domestic steel enterprises produced around 280,000 tons of steel last month, said VSA. In general, steel supply could meet the demand in the market but due to the increasing prices of imported steel ingots, producers have raised selling prices between VND100,000-300,000 (US$6.3-19) per ton to limit losses.

People’s Army