Steel corporation again raises prices

Viet Nam Steel Corporation has raised the price of steel from between VND150,000 (US$7.6) and 300,000 ($15.3) per tonne.

The rise follows an increase of between VND100,000 and VND150,000 per tonne late last month.

The Viet Nam Steel Corporation, VSA, attributes the rise to the rapid consumption of construction materials in the last months of the year.

Steel usually sells at between VND13.3 million ($682) to 14.15 million ($725) per tonnes excluding value added tax, it says.

But the fluctuating exchange rate between the dong and the US dollar had increased input costs from VND500,000 to VND600,000 per tonne, explained VSA deputy chairman Nguyen Tien Nghi.

Steel producers had not been able to immediately raise their prices to compensate for the higher costs, he said.

Construction-steel consumption increased dramatically against September to reach 448,000 tonnes and has continued.

The VSA estimates that it will now reach month than 400,000 tonnes for the last two months of the year.

But deputy chairman Nghi forecast that if the price of pig iron continued at below $600 per tonne and the price of scarp iron fetched no more than $400 per tonne, steel prices would increase only slightly.

A sudden increase in steel prices could not happen as before, he said.

VSA figures show that stockpiled steel totals 320,000 tonnes while steel makers have prepared about 580,000 tonnes for this month to prevent any shortage. – VNS

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