Vietnam records 15% Y-o-Y Growth in its Steel Output for 2018

According to the data from the Vietnam Steel Association (VSA), the country's steel production for the year 2018 totaled to 24.19 MnT up by 15% against the previous year of 2017.

Vietnam's one of the leading steel producers, Formosa Ha Tinh Steel Corp had fired up its second blast furnace in May 2018, thereby doubling its crude steel output to 7 MnT. Subsequently, the growth in the country's steel output is being attributed to Formosa's capacity addition.

VSA also added that Vietnam's annual sales totaled to 21.74 MnT, an increase of 21% against 2017 whereas exports reached 4.75 MnT, a surge of 27% y-o-y basis.

For December month, country's steel output has been recorded at 2.02 MnT, up by 2% against Dec'17, sales at 1.81 MnT and exports at 411,741 tonnes, an increase of 3% and 1% respectively against the corresponding month of 2017.

In case of import, Vietnam imported nearly 13.6 MnT of steel and iron worth nearly 9.9 billion US dollars in 2018, down 9.6% in volume but up 9% in value against 2017, mainly from China, Japan, and South Korea as per the Vietnam Steel Association.

Amid the higher steel output figures, Vietnam's steel production is expected to remain on an upward trend in 2019, due to a lot of new capacities to come on line later this year. Hoa Phat Group plans to start up its new Hoa Phat Dung Quat steel complex in 2019. The complex will have four blast furnaces with an overall production capacity of 5 MnT per year.

However, the major area of concern for the country is rising trade barriers globally due to which growing capacities could add much pressure to its domestic steel market.