Vietnamese steelmaker Hoa Phat Steel has geared up its export and since the ramping-up of production recently, it has entered export deals with Asian, European and Mexican buyers.
The Vietnamese government recently announced incentives for trade agreements with other countries and regions. Despite weak domestic steel demand and the second wave of COVID-19 in Southeast Asian countries, imported ferrous scrap prices remained high in the market.
The company shipped the first contract of 10,000mt construction steel materials to Thailand in early August. This shipment was an important step for Hoa Phat Steel to penetrate the Southeast Asian importers market. Thailand’s government has been strengthening measures on imports of galvanized steel sheet products, like the anti-dumping tax on galvanized steel sheet from China.
This has reduced South Asia’s dependence on Chinese imports and created an exports opportunity for other countries for finished steel products, including Vietnam’s galvanized steel factories. Vietnamese steel products are setting high quality benchmarks.
Recent trade agreements like EVFTA, ACFTA, and CPTPP have pushed Hoa Phat to look for export opportunities. This has made imports easier in the European Union (EU), ASEAN – China, and other countries in the Asia-Pacific region such as Australia Brunei, Canada, Chile, the United States, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand.
Hoa Phat’s Dung Quat Iron and Steel Production Complex has resumed production of HRC with a newly installed modern Italian continuous casting and rolling production line. Modernization has helped tthem meet stringent export standards.
In H1 2020, the company’s sales volumes doubled compared to same period prior-year. The company has a target of 3.6-3.7mn mt steel sales for 2020 despite the pandemic’s impact.