Ruan Jinyi, vice president of the Vietnam Steel Association (VSA), has stated that construction steel output in Vietnam is almost double domestic demand.
As the VSA vice president said, in 2010 Vietnam's construction steel output was 7.8 million mt, while its total construction steel consumption came to just 4.9 million mt. With five new steel plants expected to be put into production this year, crude steel production in Vietnam is expected to reach 8.8 million mt in 2011. In this context, many insiders are worried that increased imports will exert a negative impact on the domestic steel industry.
During 2010, Vietnamese steel companies reduced their steel product prices by as much as VND 200,000-300,000/mt ($9.6-14.3/mt) in order to attract greater interest from buyers.