According to data from the General Department of Customs, in September, the amount of HRC steel imported to Vietnam was 1.2 million tons, an increase of 34% compared to August and equal to 220% of domestic production output (568,000 tons).

In the first 9 months of the year, Vietnam imported nearly 8.8 million tons of HRC, up 26% over the same period in 2023 and equal to 171% of domestic production. Of which, the amount imported from China accounted for 72%, with 6.3 million tons.

Meanwhile, hot-rolled steel consumption by domestic manufacturing enterprises only reached 5.1 million tons.

Chinese steel accounts for the majority of imports into Vietnam, mainly because the selling price from this market is 30-70 USD lower than other markets, depending on the type of product. This stems from the fact that China has not yet escaped the "steel surplus" crisis, domestic consumption has decreased, forcing steel producers in this country to increase steel exports at low prices to release inventory, affecting the global steel industry.

It is worth noting that hot-rolled steel coils are still flooding into Vietnam despite the anti-dumping investigation. Therefore, trade defense experts believe that the Ministry of Industry and Trade should speed up the investigation into this product to protect domestic production.

Assessing the effectiveness of trade defense measures for the steel industry, Mr. Dinh Quoc Thai, General Secretary of the Vietnam Steel Association, emphasized that the steel industry is a highly competitive industry but there is always a global oversupply situation, so it is easy for foreign enterprises to dump to resolve inventory, especially during periods when the market in the exporting country is facing difficulties.

Therefore, steel is one of the industries with the largest number of trade defense investigations, not only in Vietnam but also in the world.

In recent years, thanks to trade defense measures, the Vietnamese steel industry has had the opportunity to develop and compete fairly with imported goods in the domestic market. At the same time, the steel industry has also built a complete value chain from hot-rolled steel, cold-rolled steel, and galvanized steel, with enough capacity to expand exports to other markets.

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Production of hot rolled steel coil at Hoa Phat - Dung Quat steel factory. Photo: Nam Khanh

“To nurture domestic manufacturing enterprises, policies must be very clear and support domestic production. What enterprises need from the State is not money,” said Hoa Phat Group Chairman Tran Dinh Long.

According to Mr. Long, currently, every country has set up technical barriers to prevent imported goods from flooding in, threatening domestic production. If we do not have technical barriers, domestic production will be extremely difficult under pressure from imported goods.

Previously, on July 26, 2024, the Ministry of Industry and Trade decided to investigate and apply anti-dumping measures (CBPG) on some hot-rolled steel coil products originating from China and India. The investigation was conducted in accordance with the provisions of the Law on Foreign Trade Management and the WTO Anti-Dumping Agreement.

The goods subject to investigation are certain hot-rolled alloy or non-alloy steel products; not further processed than hot-rolled, thickness from 1.2-25.4mm, width not exceeding 1,880mm; no plating or coating; oiled or unoiled; carbon content less than 0.6% by mass.

According to the provisions of the Foreign Trade Law and Decree 10/2018/ND-CP, based on the preliminary investigation conclusion, the investigating agency may recommend that the Minister of Industry and Trade decide to apply temporary anti-dumping tax. The temporary anti-dumping tax rate shall not exceed the dumping margin in the preliminary investigation conclusion.

Countries in the region such as Thailand and Indonesia have applied safeguard measures against Chinese hot-rolled steel. Thailand and Indonesia's production only meets 43% and 65% of consumption demand, respectively, and since 2019 these two countries have had anti-dumping taxes.

The Turkish Ministry of Trade has completed an anti-dumping (AD) investigation into hot-rolled steel (HRC) imports from China, India, Japan and Russia.

In the official gazette dated 11/10/2024, the decisions were made together with the Notice on the Prevention of Unfair Competition in Imports (Notice No: 2023/31).

The investigation covers a number of hot-rolled steel products falling under customs tariff positions 7208, 7211, 7212 and 7225. Under the decision, anti-dumping measures will be imposed to protect domestic producers of these products originating from China, India, Japan and Russia.