VNA reported that Vietnamese steel exporters have been urged to improve their understanding of trade regulations in import countries to avoid the possibility of anti dumping cases in 2012.
According to the Viet Nam Steel Association, in 2011, steel exports reached more than 2 million tonnes, earning the country USD 2 billion in turnover.
The VSA said that the result was attributable to the growing efforts by steel companies to seek new export opportunities at a time when supply was exceeding domestic demand.
Despite encouraging export performance, the steel industry still faced three anti dumping lawsuits in 2011, including an investigation by the Indonesian Anti Dumping Committee on Vietnamese cold rolled steel, a US Department of Commerce anti dumping and countervailing duty investigation on imports of circulate welded carbon steel pipes and another DoC dumping claim over Vietnamese steel made clothes hangers.
Mr Dinh Huy Tam general secretary at VSA said that "I think these lawsuits are just the beginning. In the future, when we try to boost steel exports to deal with slumping domestic consumption, we will likely cope with more anti-dumping suits from importing countries."
Mr Tam said that the steel supply was currently far exceeding demand but there remained a massive influx of investment into the industry. Because the local market scale was small, enterprises had no choice but to promote exports.
He said that steel exporters should gain an understanding of the rules and regulations of import countries, which they had neglected in the past, in order to minimize the possibility of being subjected to anti dumping duties in the near future.
The VSA said that February's steel consumption volume reached roughly 360,000 tonnes, marking a 50% increase over the previous month. However, last month's export quantity was still lower than the previous average rate of 400,000 to 420,000 each month.
The association also predicted that the local demand for steel would remain modest in the coming months as State invested real estate and infrastructure construction projects were under strict supervision.
The industry currently holds 350,000 tonnes of steel in stock, not including 560,000 tonnes of steel ingots which will be slated for production this month.
Sourced from Vietnam News
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