Vietnam-based steelmaker Hoa Phat Group is going to increase exports of construction steel from 265,000 mt in 2019 to 400,000 mt in 2020, according to the company’s report. Nevertheless, the share of exports in its total sales volume will increase just slightly as the producer will be focused on an increase of its positions in the domestic market.
In 2019, Cambodia consumed more than half of the total exports of Hoa Phat with 151,000 mt exported to this country. Japan was the second largest sales destination, with 55,000 mt, followed by Canada with 20,000 mt, and then by the US and Malaysia.
In the current year, the company will keep increasing sales to neighbouring markets like Cambodia as it has the advantage of lower costs and demand for steel in developing countries is growing. Moreover, it is expected that the pipe exports of the company will increase from 25,000 mt in 2019 to 30,000 mt in 2020.
Exports accounted for 9.5 percent of total sales of Hoa Phat in 2019. Despite rapid capacity growth, the share of exports is forecast to increase by 1.8 percentage points to 11.3 percent in 2020. The producer is going to launch the second phase of its Dung Quat project in the second quarter this year and enter the flat steel segment, though it is not planning to expand exports of HRC, aiming mostly to substitute imports in the Vietnamese market.