Statistics of the Ministry of Industry and Trade show that the country’s steel output in the first 6 months of the year reached about 4.69 million tons, up 7% over the same period in 2017.

The reason for the positive growth results during this time was the domestic economy continued to grow well. Many infrastructure, construction and real estate projects have been and will be implemented this year. Along with that, the disbursement of public investment implemented by the Government right from the first months of the year has created a good premise for the growth of the steel industry.

(The steel industry will have to overcome difficulties to achieve the set growth targets)

According to the Vietnam Steel Association, from now until the end of 2018, it is expected that many projects will be put into operation, such as: Hoa Sen Group put equipment for cold rolling lines, galvanized, colored with a capacity of 350,000 tons. / year into production; Hoa Phat Group will bring the first phase furnace in Quang Ngai province with a capacity of 2 million tons / year into operation, the No. 2 blast furnace of Formosa Ha Tinh with a capacity of 3.8 million tons / year will also be put into production. export …

Mr. Nguyen Van Sua, Vice President of Vietnam Steel Association stated that with such favorable factors, in 2018, Vietnam’s steel industry continues to grow at a relatively high rate, about 17-18%, even 20% compared to 2017.

(The steel industry faces trade protectionism)

Besides the positive signals, Mr. Sua is afraid that in the coming time, the steel industry will have to go through many difficulties and challenges such as facing trade protectionism, which means countries will build goods. tariff barriers to discourage Vietnam’s export. Specifically, the lawsuits of the United States, Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and India on Vietnam’s steel products exports.

Notably, the decision to apply measures to restrict imports of steel and aluminum in the form of tax increases issued by US President Donald Trump. Accordingly, some steel and aluminum products imported into this country will be subject to high taxes, 25% for steel and 10% for aluminum.

This is a challenge that requires businesses to strive to ensure sustainable growth and reach the export target of 5 million tons in 2018./.