Chinese cheap steel floods Vietnam market

• Anti-dumping measures could turn into a double-edged steel sword
• China threatens WTO case over U.S. steel duties

Cheap and surplus steel products from China are set to continue flowing to Vietnam in the year-end when demand for construction steel rises, Vietnamplus reported July 5, quoting VSA’s vice chairman Nguyen Van Sua.

In the first half of this year, Vietnam imported 9.6 million tons of steel products, surging 48 percent year on year, with imports from China accounting for 60 percent of the total, data from VSA shows.

“As domestic consumption is limited, cheap steel from China is likely to cause local steelmakers to cut production capacity or even go bankrupt,” Sua said, urging Vietnamese government to use barriers against Chinese steel imports.

A view inside a steel production facility at Shanxi Zhongsheng Steel in Fenyang, Shanxi Province, China, April 28, 2016. Reuters/John Ruwitch

The government may impose higher duty on the imports from China as an immediate measure to protect domestic production. However, in the long run local steelmakers should unite to become stronger and make more competitive products, VSA’s Sua added.

Vietnam was the biggest importer of steel products in Southeast Asia and ranked seventh among the largest steel importers in the world with 18.7 million tons last year.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Commerce Department has already slapped duties of up to 450 percent on the steel products from China, Reuters said in late June.

China warned it could file suit at the World Trade Organization in order to protect its steel industry, after the United States said some steel imports from China were hitting U.S. producers.

Related news:

> Anti-dumping measures could turn into a double-edged steel sword

> China threatens WTO case over U.S. steel duties