Vietnam to focus on more scrap imports

The Vietnam Steel Association expects the country's scrap imports to reach 700,000 - 800,000 tons at the end of this year and to total 1.3 - 1.5 million tons by the end of next year. In addition, Vietnam is likely to import around 2.2 million tons of scrap in 2008. At least three plants with a combined annual capacity of 1.4 million tons of billet and 570,000 tons of finished steel are expected to become operational in the 2007-2008 period, said the Vietnam Steel Association. Vietnam imported around 5.2 million tons of billets and finished steel products in the first eleven months of this year, an increase of four percent from a year earlier.