What does the Trade Defense Department say about the massive influx of hot-rolled steel into Vietnam?
At a regular press conference held by the Ministry of Industry and Trade on the afternoon of October 23, Lao Dong Newspaper asked the leader of the Ministry of Industry and Trade about the phenomenon of massive imports of hot-rolled steel (HRC) products (mainly from China), which is causing great harm to the market and threatening the operations of domestic steel manufacturing enterprises.
According to the Directorate of Customs, in the first 9 months of 2024, HRC steel imported into Vietnam from abroad reached 8.8 million tons. Of which, imports from China accounted for 72% with 6.3 million tons, surpassing the amount of HRC steel produced by domestic enterprises with 5.1 million tons, despite the anti-dumping investigation order.
Responding to this issue at the press conference, Mr. Chu Thang Trung - Deputy Director of the Ministry of Industry and Trade said that the domestic hot-rolled steel production industry currently includes 2 enterprises with a capacity of about 7.6 million tons/year.
Domestic hot-rolled steel products, in addition to meeting the needs of the domestic market, are also partly exported to other markets, at a ratio of 50%:50%. Meanwhile, the demand for hot-rolled steel imports in the Vietnamese market - according to estimates - is about 13 million tons/year. Thus, hot-rolled steel imports are still a source of supplement for the needs of the domestic market.
Recently, based on the requests of domestic hot-rolled steel manufacturers, the Ministry of Industry and Trade issued Decision No. 1985 on investigating and applying anti-dumping measures on some hot-rolled steel products originating from India and China, in order to ensure a fair competitive environment between imported goods and domestically produced goods.
Mr. Trung said that according to the investigation process, based on information and data provided by relevant parties, the Trade Defense Department has assessed and determined the dumping behavior of manufacturing and exporting enterprises abroad, as well as the impact of imported goods on the domestic manufacturing industry, including developments in the increase in imported hot-rolled steel in recent times.
"The Trade Defense Department has sent the investigation questionnaire to the relevant parties, requesting responses. The deadline for the parties to respond to the questionnaire has now expired. The Trade Defense Department is receiving and synthesizing the information and data provided by the relevant parties.
According to preliminary statistics, foreign manufacturing and exporting enterprises alone have sent more than 20 questionnaire responses to the department, not to mention questionnaire responses from domestic enterprises as well as import enterprises. This is a huge amount of work and relatively huge data received," Mr. Trung informed.
Mr. Trung also said that the initial information and data collected will be an important basis for the investigation agency to determine whether the domestic steel industry has suffered damage or not, and the extent of the damage (if any) coming from where.
In case there is sufficient evidence to preliminarily determine that domestic products have suffered significant damage due to dumped imported goods, the trade defense investigation agency will recommend that the Ministry of Industry and Trade consider applying temporary anti-dumping measures to limit negative impacts on the domestic manufacturing industry.
Preliminary results of anti-dumping investigation on hot-rolled steel coming soon
Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Sinh Nhat Tan said that imports have increased sharply, turnover has shown signs of decreasing, meaning prices have shown signs of decreasing, so it is necessary to follow the legal investigation process on applying trade defense measures.
The Ministry of Industry and Trade must also consider the total demand. If domestic production cannot meet the demand, imports must be imported. However, if massive imports cause damage to domestic production and hinder domestic production, there must be protection tools. The measure applied by the Ministry of Industry and Trade is anti-dumping, to ensure harmony.
“At the latest, according to the prescribed process and deadline, the preliminary investigation results must be available by November. In case the results show that all factors causing damage to the domestic hot-rolled steel industry are present, the Ministry of Industry and Trade will apply temporary anti-dumping measures, through a temporary import tax policy,” Deputy Minister Nguyen Sinh Nhat Tan affirmed.
