HÀ NỘI — A recent rise in anti-dumping lawsuits in the local steel industry has steelmakers worried.

Statistics from the Việt Nam Steel Association (VSA) show that in the first eight months of the year, steel exports were 41 per cent higher than in the same period last year, reaching 4.5 million tonnes worth US$2.99 billion.

The ASEAN region remains the biggest market for Vietnamese steel. Cambodia accounted for the largest portion of Việt Nam’s total steel exports at 34.9 per cent, followed by Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand.

However, the association said the domestic industry faced fierce competition from imported steel and anti-dumping lawsuits from importers.

According to the Trade Remedies Authority of Việt Nam under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the sector faced 10 such lawsuits in August. Steel has always been the most prosecuted industry with eight lawsuits per month.

The Thai Ministry of Commerce extended a safeguard measure for non-alloy and non-coil coated steel sheets for the second time. The EU has applied provisional safeguards in its investigation of three Vietnamese steel products. The Malaysian Ministry of Industry and Trade has initiated anti-dumping investigations for certain iron and steel products made of ore imported from China and Việt Nam.

In addition, the US Department of Commerce (DOC) is investigating unsubsidised steel products imported from Việt Nam due to suspected tax evasion.

Economists said the rising number of lawsuits was unavoidable as Việt Nam’s economy had integrated into the regional and world economies.

However, the fact that familiar ASEAN markets such as Thailand and Malaysia also initiated lawsuits was a worry for Việt Nam’s steel industry.

For this reason, the MoIT was supporting steelmakers in investigations while helping them improve competitiveness and stop relying on imported materials.

In addition, steel producers should keep close tabs on the whole production process to be able to disprove accusations of evading taxes. — VNS

MoIT apply anti-dumping measures on imported stainless steel

The Ministry of Industry and Trade announced anti-dumping duties on imported cold-rolled stainless steel on Wednesday.

Decision 7896/QĐ-BCT applies to products with the codes 7219.32.00; 7219.33.00; 7219.34.00; 7219.35.00; 7219.90.00; 7220.20.10; 7220.20.90; 7220.90.10 and 7220.90.90, imported to Việt Nam from mainland China, Malaysia, Indonesia and Taiwan.

The measures will be applied for five years.

The ministry said they received an application for the dossier requesting a final review from a domestic manufacturer representing the domestic industry.

They received a request on September 12 from POSCO VST Company Limited and Inox Hòa Bình Joint Stock Company. — VNS