Domestic steel prices rise

Steel prices increased from Monday, while experts expected the prices to continue rising next month.

Nguyen Tien Nghi, deputy chairman of Viet Nam Steel Association, said some steel producers had announced increased prices because of higher prices of pig iron and scrap metal.

Prices jumped from US$600 to $620 per tonne for pig iron and $350 to $380 per tonne for scrap metal.

The devaluation of the Vietnamese dong versus the US dollar was another reason for the price increase, Nghi said.

Steel bars and wire rods produced by the HCM City based Viet Nam Steel Corporation (VNSteel) increased by VND200,000-300,000 ($10.25-15.38) per tonne to VND14.98-15.2 ($768.2-779.5)million for steel products.

Steel produced by the Pomina Steel Corporation (Pomina) also increased by an average VND330,000 ($16.9) per tonne to VND14.7 million ($753.8).

Nghi said steel was one of the commodities that was the most difficult to set a long-term forecast for, especially at the moment because steel makers had to import 70 per cent and 47 per cent of pig iron and scrap metal, respectively, for domestic production. The domestic price of steel products would continue to increase in the coming time if the prices of material for steel production surge further on the world market, he said.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade expected that the world iron ore price might increase because India intended to increase the export tax rate for iron ore to 20 per cent to restrict exports.

The domestic increase in prices began in July after four previous reductions in previous months.

Nghi said the association expected sales of steel this month to decline to 350,000-400,000 tonnes of steel against the sale at 460,000 tonnes in July due to the impact of recent storms. — VNS

Tags: Vietnam steel industry, Vietnam steel market, Vietnam steel prices