Vietnam Spends Over 8 Billion USD Importing Iron and Steel

According to statistics of the General Department of Customs, iron and steel of all kinds imported to Vietnam in July continued to decrease by nearly 27% in volume and decrease by 25.4% in turnover compared to the previous month, reaching 909,000 tons, equivalent to 1 million tons. .03 billion USD.

Generally, in the first 7 months of 2022, the country's iron and steel imports reached 7.4 million tons, equivalent to 8 billion USD with an average price of 1.08 billion USD/ton. Compared to the same period last year, imported iron and steel decreased by 7.9% in volume and increased by 17.7% in price.

In which, Vietnam still buys the most iron and steel from the Chinese market with 3.41 million tons, equivalent to nearly 3.4 billion USD. But this number has dropped sharply by 14.7% year-on-year. Other markets supplying iron and steel to Vietnam include Japan with 1.15 million tons, up 5.9%; Korea was 793 thousand tons, down 11.8% over the same period last year.

In the opposite direction, in July, Vietnam's iron and steel exports reached more than 613 thousand tons with a value of 645 million USD, down nearly 29% in volume and 29.4% in value compared to the previous month. This is also the month that recorded the lowest export volume in the past 5 months.

Generally, in 7 months, iron and steel exports reached more than 5.4 million tons, equivalent to 5.6 billion USD, down 22.6% in volume and up 1% in value over the same period in 2021.

From the beginning of the year until now, Vietnam's iron and steel exports have been mainly exported to the EU market with 1.1 million tons, up 18.1%; Cambodia reached 741 thousand tons, down 2.2%; the United States reached 449 thousand tons, up 12.9%; Malaysia: 437 thousand tons, up 3.2% over the same period last year.

Thus, Vietnam had a trade deficit of 2.4 billion USD of iron and steel products in the first 7 months of the year with Vietnam's iron and steel export turnover reaching 5.6 billion USD and importing about 8 billion USD.

In fact, most of the input materials for the domestic steel industry must be imported, so the cost of products will depend a lot on foreign market factors. This is still one of the major challenges of Vietnam's steel industry in the coming time.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the biggest limitation of the current steel industry is that it can only meet the construction needs, while steel in the field of manufacturing, processing, mechanical engineering, or supporting industries has not yet been able to meet it. 

CafeLand