Steel imported into Vietnam will increase sharply in quantity from 2023 to the first months of 2024. The Vietnam Steel Association (VSA) said that if in the whole year 2023, imports of finished steel products of all kinds to Vietnam will be about 13 million. 33 million tons, then in January 2024, Vietnam imported about 1,488 million tons. The main steel supply countries for Vietnam include China 67.6%, Japan 9.12%, followed by Taiwan (China), South Korea…

Data from the General Department of Customs also shows that the total import volume of hot rolled steel coils (HRC) is estimated to reach 3 million tons in the first quarter of 2024, 1.5 times higher than the amount of domestic production. China and India increased dramatically, accounting for 75%.

The domestic steel market share is shrinking

The output of two domestic HRC steel manufacturing enterprises, Formosa and Hoa Phat, has decreased, reaching only 73% of design capacity compared to 86% in 2021 due to unfair competition with imported goods sold below price. wall. Import prices have now plummeted from 613 USD at the beginning of 2023 to 541 USD in the fourth quarter of 2023. The market share of the two domestic HRC manufacturers also decreased from 45% in 2021 to 30% in 2023. In contrast, the market share of imported steel from China and India increased from 32% to nearly 46% during the year. 2023. It is expected that in 2024, import momentum will continue to increase strongly.

With an unprecedented import volume in history, domestic steel production suffered heavy losses. Faced with this situation, recently, hot rolled steel (HRC) enterprises such as Formosa and Hoa Phat have submitted an application to the Ministry of Industry and Trade requesting to initiate an anti-dumping investigation on HRC steel imported from China and India. Degree.

Mr. Tran Dinh Long, Chairman of Hoa Phat Group, said that it is unacceptable that domestic steel production is 6.7 million tons, but imports are up to 9.6 million tons, HRC steel alone in 2023 imported from China is 6.2 million tons.

“Vietnam is currently one of the largest steel producing countries in ASEAN with over 20 million tons/year. The Party and State’s policies always support and encourage upstream industrial production. Therefore, businesses want to support domestic production, especially upstream industries. It is very normal to propose initiating an anti-dumping investigation on steel according to WTO regulations. Through the process of investigation and overall and objective assessment, the State management agency will clearly delineate this according to regulations,” Mr. Tran Dinh Long shared.

Recognizing this reality, steel industry expert Nguyen Van Sua said that protecting domestic upstream production is also protecting jobs and creating a sustainable source of budget revenue for the state. Initiating an investigation to apply anti-dumping measures is a common practice that countries are applying to protect domestic production, whenever there are signs of abnormalities in product output and selling prices.

“It is necessary to use and protect HRC steel production originating from Vietnam. On the one hand, it is to protect domestic production, and on the other hand, it is to avoid the risk of facing anti-circumvention lawsuits when exporting. Besides, using a large proportion of domestically sourced HRC steel in the long run will be a positive factor for export activities, increasing the competitiveness and transparency of goods origin,” Mr. Sua analyzed. accumulation.

The business’s request is a legitimate interest

Currently, domestic steel factories (including HRC steel) have applied domestic and international product quality standards to the production process such as TCVN, JIS, ASTM,… and other standards. import market standards. According to a representative of the Department of Industry (Ministry of Industry and Trade), there are currently 2 domestic manufacturers of HRC products, with the structure and volume of products not meeting 100% of domestic demand, so it is still necessary to import them. password.

However, the selling price of imported products is unusually low compared to the production cost due to non-market factors, such as price subsidies or trade fraud, requiring investigation and assessment by the competent authority. measures to ensure equality, increase competition and protect the legitimate rights of the country and domestic manufacturers.

“Therefore, the Department of Industry will work closely with the Department of Trade Remedies to consider and decide, ensuring the HRC steel market develops healthily, creating favorable conditions for domestic manufacturing enterprises. including enterprises producing HRC and enterprises using HRC”, a representative of the Department of Industry affirmed.

Regarding the process of initiating an anti-dumping investigation of imported HRC steel at the request of domestic enterprises, Mr. Chu Thang Trung, Deputy Director of the Trade Defense Department (Ministry of Industry and Trade) said, based on regulations and procedures, the authorities will evaluate the validity of the dossier (lasting 15 days). In case the dossier is incomplete, representatives of domestic manufacturing industries must submit additional dossiers.

Once the application is complete and valid, the application will be evaluated within 45 days. On that basis, it is recommended that the Ministry of Industry and Trade initiate or not initiate an anti-dumping investigation, the investigation period after initiation will last from 2 – 6 months (maximum 8 months).

“During the appraisal process, the investigation agency will specifically notify relevant parties to provide sufficient evidence to consider comprehensively, fairly and draw reasonable conclusions, even after initiation. Initiating an investigation, there have been no measures applied to imported goods,” Mr. Chu Thang Trung stated.