Troubled steel makers call for higher tariffs to curb imports

Vietnamese steel manufacturers have asked the government to more than double import tax on finished steel to 20 percent from 8 percent to protect them from cheaper imports, their association said.

The current rate is 8 percent. The Vietnam Steel Association (VSA) had last week proposed that the government should hike the tariff on steel billet from 2 percent to 5 percent. Chairman Pham Chi Cuong said producers in neighboring countries cut prices and pushed exports to reduce stocks that had piled up due to the global economic slowdown, which has crimped steel demand from manufacturers and builders. Demand in Vietnam has also dropped as the high bank interest rates hurt the construction industry. A report last week in Phap Luat (Law) newspaper quoted Cuong as saying that steel consumption had shrunk for a second consecutive month in October to less than 120,000 tons. Vietnam had imported around 360,000 tons of steel by October, mainly from China, according to the association. Steel imports grew 57 percent to US$6.1 billion in the first 10 months of the year, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO) in Hanoi. In its latest report Monday, GSO said steel imports were up 46.3 percent this month from a year earlier. Steel prices rose slightly after the association’s first proposal last week even though demand remained unchanged. Vietnam Steel Corporation (VSC) increased prices by VND500,000- 700,000 a ton to VND10.6-10.7 million ($626.7-632.5). Foreign manufacturers have priced their products at VND50,000-100,000 higher than VSC. Stocks with manufacturers and distributors rose to 3 million tons as of October 27, Dau Tu Chung Khoan newspaper reported earlier this month, citing a study by Ban Viet Securities Inc. Reported by Minh Quang