Businesses imported 7.5 million tons of steel in the first four months of this year, up 48% against last year’s same period, according to a statement issued on June 12 by the Vietnam Steel Association (VSA).
Chinese businesses accounted nearly 60% of the total imported volume, said the VSA.
A huge volume of steel ingots and finished steel products were imported into Vietnam in spite of the imposition of temporary safeguard duties of 23.3% on steel ingots and 14.2% on finished steel products during the four-month period.
This spike in imports was largely attributed to high demand by the steel industry for semi-finished steel products, including hot-rolled steel, which Vietnam is as yet unable to produce.
Consequently, businesses across the country are forced to procure eight to nine million tons of hot-rolled steel annually from overseas sources to meet their needs for production, said the VSA.
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