Vietnam-based steelmaker Hoa Phat Group increased its steel sales by 16.8 percent year on year to 2.78 million mt in 2019 owing to strong demand in the local market and much higher supply to the south of Vietnam, mainly following the launch of phase one of the Dung Quat project (capacity 2 million mt per year). The producer managed to double sales of construction steel to the southern region in 2019 to half a million mt, according to the company’s report.
Out of total sales, 265,000 mt were exported to Japan, Cambodia, South Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia, Australia and the US.
Though steel production and sales volumes in December were slightly lower than in November, they were still much higher compared to the average monthly results of Hoa Phat Group. Hoa Phat's construction steel sales reached 285,000 mt in December, up 33.7 percent year on year, but five percent below the all-time record high in November. At the same time, steel exports reached 39,664 mt in December, up 81.8 percent year on year.
Hoa Phat Group has ambitious plans for 2020. As the company is going to launch the second phase of the Dung Quat project in the second quarter of the year and enter the flat steel segment, its steel sales target for 2020 is 3.5-3.6 million mt, 25-30 percent above the result for 2019.