HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam spent US$10.48 billion to import nearly 15 million tonnes of steel in the first 10 months of this year, an additional concern of the domestic industry which is struggling to compete with the flood of cheap steel.According to the General Department of Customs, iron and steel imports soared sharply from the beginning of this year, making it one of the seven groups of products with import value exceeding $10 billion in January – October.October saw a record steel import volume at 2.41 million tonnes, worth $1.51 billion, representing increases by 55.9 per cent and 41.7 per cent, respectively against the previous month.Overall, steel import increased by 38.2 per cent in volume and 23.2 per cent in value in the 10-month period.Notably, steel import from China increased dramatically in the period, by 58.9 per cent in volume to 10.16 million tonnes and 43.2 per cent in value to $6.37 billion, making China the largest steel import market of Việt Nam in the period.Japan is the second largest steel import market of Việt Nam with 1.7 million tonnes, up 4.6 per cent, followed by the Republic of Korea with 1.05 million tonnes, up 15.3 per cent.These three markets together accounted for 87.76 per cent of Việt Nam’s total steel import.Meanwhile, the country earned $7.96 billion from exporting steel in the period, meaning a trade deficit of $3.1 billion.According to Việt Nam Steel Association (VSA), Việt Nam’s steel output is estimated to reach 30 million tonnes this year, up 7 per cent over 2023. However, the recovery is uncertain and steel firms are still struggling with difficulty from the harsh competition of China’s cheap steel in the domestic market.Steel demand expected to improveBảo Việt Securities forecast Việt Nam’s steel output will increase by around 10 per cent this year and 8 per cent in 2025 on improved demand from the domestic economic recovery, especially the real estate market which accounts for 60 per cent of the steel demand.The enforcements of the Law on Real Estate Business, Law on Housing and Law on Land are expected to remove bottlenecks and promote the development of the real estate market.In addition, the effort to accelerate the disbursement of public investment in the remaining months of this year will also help promote steel demand.The disbursement of public investment reached only 52.29 per cent as of the end of October while the Government is determined to achieve the disbursement rate of more than 95 per cent this year.The Government is planning more than VNĐ790.7 trillion ($31.18 billion) worth of public investment in 2025, higher than this year’s plan at VNĐ670 trillion.The global production shift in which Việt Nam emerged to be an attractive destination will also help improve the steel demand. Figures of the General Statistics Office showed that realised foreign direct investment (FDI) reached $19.58 billion in the first 10 months of this year, up 8.8 per cent over the same period last year.Việt Nam expects to attract $39-40 billion worth of FDI this year and the flow into Việt Nam is forecast to continue the upward trend next year and remain a major growth driver, according to the Central Institute for Economic Management. — VNS (ICE HO CHI MINH CITY)

Fonte notizia: Vietnam News