Vietnam Steel Exports Increase Sharply In January 2019

Vietnam's steel exports kicked off in 2019 on a strong note, with a total of 771,056 tonnes of steel products shipped in January, up 73.9% year-on-year amid rising shipments to Cambodia, the latest customs data showed.

Cambodia was the main food destination in January, reaching 160,775 tons, up 55.7% from a year earlier. Cambodia is an important market for Vietnam as the country does not have a metallurgical industry and the number of high-rise projects is increasing there.

“Cambodia mainly imports long products from Vietnam. Emerging markets such as Cambodia and Myanmar are truly full of potential, ”a Vietnamese source said, adding that the surge in exports may be due in part to the recent increase in steel production to Vietnam.

For example, on May 18, 2018, Formosa Ha Tinh Steel Corp. launched a second blast furnace and doubled crude steel production to 7 million tonnes per year.

Indonesia came in second with 91,712 million tons of Vietnamese imports, up 37.4% year on year, while the United States came in third with 83,463 million tons, up 66.8%.

Although not in the top three, several destinations have more than doubled their imports from Vietnam, such as the Philippines with 51,772 million tons, more than three times the 15,153 million tons published a year ago.

Another destination was Thailand with 68,469 tons, more than double the 30,483 tons a year earlier.

Total imports in January fell slightly to 1.15 million tons from 1.16 million tons due to reduced supplies from Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.

Although total imports were lower, shipments from Russia more than tripled to 89,793 million tons versus 26,635 million tons, while China shipped 526,764 million tons, up 30.5% from in the previous year.

In 2018, the total volume of exports and imports amounted to 6.26 million tons and 13.5 million tons, respectively. The first was 33.1% higher compared to the same period last year, while the second was down 9.8%.