Vietnam's Ministry of Finance (MoF) has decided to increase steel import duties by margins of between one percent and five percent, effective as of April 1.
Specifically, import duties for certain steel billet will be increased to eight percent from the current rate of five percent. Cold rolled steel will be subject to a new import rate of eight percent, up one percent from the current rate.
The new import duties for construction steel are set at 15 percent, up three percent. Import tariffs for carbon steel wire are increased from five percent and eight percent up to ten percent.
According to the Ministry of Finance, these adjustments are aimed at easing the difficulties faced by domestic steel enterprises.
The Vietnam Steel Association previously suggested that the import duty on small square billet should be raised to around 15 percent from five percent, and that the import duty on long products for construction should be hiked to 22 percent from 12 percent.