(HSV VIETNAM GROUP) – Both international and domestic factors are having positive impacts on the steel market, causing this field in our country to be evaluated positively and with short-term prospects.
According to Mr. Nghiem Xuan Da - Chairman of the Vietnam Steel Association (VSA), the assessment of the World Steel Association (worldsteel) shows that this year and next year, global steel demand is forecast to increase. Specifically, in 2024 it will increase by 1.7% to reach 1,793 million tons. In 2025, steel demand is forecast to increase by 1.2% to reach 1,815 million tons.
Domestically, VSA leaders said that recently, although the steel market still faces many fluctuations and challenges, there have been bright spots when the sales volume of steel types such as cold-rolled steel, galvanized steel... have increased. Accordingly, domestic consumption of all kinds of steel in May reached nearly 2 million tons, of which although construction steel decreased by 7.7%, cold rolled steel increased by 10.7% and galvanized steel increased by 7.1%.
According to a representative of Vietnam Steel Corporation (VNSTEEL), the total consumption of finished steel products in the entire system of this unit in May increased by 59% over the same period. With this, VNSTEEL believes that in addition to domestic factors, there are foreign market factors that impact. Specifically, this unit analyzed that most commodity prices on the world steel market in May increased compared to the previous month, except scrap steel. The average price of iron ore and coking coal increased sharply by 6% and 8% respectively compared to April 2024; Coking coal, steel billet and hot rolled steel (HRC) prices increased slightly, from 0.2% to 2.8%; while scrap steel prices decreased by 0.6%.
"Because of the increase in input materials, many domestic finished steel products are forced to increase prices, such as galvanized steel, HRC, and construction steel coils," said a representative of Vietnam Steel.
Also according to VNSTEEL representative, the total system consumption of this unit in May 2024 reached 351,700 tons, a slight increase of 1% over the previous month and a sharp increase of 59% over the same period. Construction steel consumption is still in the market's general difficulties, down 0.51% over the previous month and up 42% over the same period. Consumption of cold rolled steel and galvanized steel doubled over the same period; Compared to last month, cold rolled steel increased by 12%.
In the first 5 months of the year, VNSTEEL's total consumption of finished steel products reached more than 1.4 million tons, growing 31% over the same period. "This increase has a huge contribution from flat steel units, in which cold rolled steel increased by 85% and galvanized steel increased by 105% over the same period. The above results demonstrate consensus and increased cooperation throughout the VNSTEEL system," said the leader of Vietnam Steel "Total" and said that in order to further promote the system's strength in the context of the steel market still facing many difficulties ahead, VNSTEEL continues to carry out production and economic activities. Doing business in the spirit of prioritizing risk control, being flexible and harmonizing immediate and long-term goals; Increase internal supply chain to ensure effective business results.
Meanwhile, a unit in the same industry - Hoa Phat Group said that in the first 4 months of this year, the sales volume of construction steel, hot rolled steel (HRC), and steel billet reached 2.65 million tons. Specifically, Hoa Phat exported 952,000 tons of steel, including construction steel, high quality steel, HRC steel and steel billet.
"We have not finished statistics on Hoa Phat steel consumption in May, but it is basically still increasing steadily, "staying fast" like April, although not quite good and not yet groundbreaking," Hoa Phat representative shared.
In particular, this unit said that on June 6, 2024, Hoa Phat officially reached the milestone of 10 million tons of HRC steel. This is an important milestone for Hoa Phat after 4 years since the first HRC roll was born in May 2020.
VSA leaders commented that although the Vietnamese steel market has not really shown signs of outstanding development, the fact that market demand is still stable and some types of steel have quite good consumption is positive news. It is expected that in the second half of this year, the steel market will recover stronger when input materials are stable, while domestic construction steel will benefit when a series of public investment projects need to be completed within the year to promptly disburse capital.
Ha Diem HSV