Steel sales in Vietnam fall 17.5% to 12.5 mln tons in H1

Steel sales in Vietnam fell 17.5% year-on-year to 12.48 million tons in the first half of this year, according to a report by the 100-member Vietnam Steel Association (VSA).

During the period, steel output reached 13.1 million tons, down 20.9% year-on-year. The association attributed the underperformance to lower demand, resulting from the gloomy real estate market, challenges in the corporate bond market, and inflation impacting the civil construction market.

The figure included 4.38 million tons for export in the first five months of this year, up 10.12% year-on-year. Export revenue dropped 16.21% to $3.45 billion. ASEAN was the biggest market with 34.76% of the total, followed by the EU with 24.68%, the U.S. with 6.77%, and India with 4.72%.

Regarding imports, the country spent $3.93 billion on buying 4.61 million tons of steel in January-May, down 29.61% and 12.33% year-on-year, respectively, the VSA said. China was the biggest supplier with 54.17% of the value, followed by Japan with 16.01%, South Korea with 8.87%, and India with 6.74%.

In June, steel sales and output both decreased 6.41% and 9.52% year-on-year to 2.16 million tons and 2.01 million tons, respectively.

The VSA expected steel output in Vietnam to go up 2-3% this year, fulfilling domestic and export demands. However, prices will fall due to weak demand, Chinese firms pushing exports, domestic consumption going down resulting from the ailing real estate market, and trade barriers in export markets.

Steel production and sales are not expected to recover until the end of 2023, the VSA anticipated, attributing the situation to weak market demand inside and outside Vietnam.

Thai Nguyen Iron and Steel JSC (Tisco) reported its fourth consecutive quarter after-tax loss of VND99 billion ($4.2 million) in Q2/2023. Tisco made an after-tax profit of over VND4 billion ($169,200) in the same period last year. The steelmaker’s Q2/2023 revenue dropped 39% year-on-year to VND1.95 trillion ($82.3 million), according to its latest consolidated financial report.

Hoa Phat Group, Vietnam's largest steelmaker, sold 2.9 million tons of construction steel, billets and hot-rolled coils (HRC) in the first half of the year, down 27% year-on-year. Of this, HRC accounted for 1.2 million tons, down 15%, according to a company report. Construction steel sales reached more than 1.6 million tons in the period, down 30%. In addition to finished steel, Hoa Phat also provided 36,000 tons of steel billets to other steel mills in Vietnam.