On August 27, the price of CB240 coil of Hoa Phat - a brand that holds 30% of the domestic market share - was quoted by agents in Hanoi at 13.53 million VND per ton; CB300 D10 steel (10mm diameter) is 13.74 million VND. Compared to last week, each ton of steel of this brand decreased by 300,000-400,000 VND.
The price threshold fluctuates at 13.5 million VND a tonne with steel also listed by many other brands such as VAS Steel, Tungho, American Steel a week ago. The remaining brands (Southern steel, Pomina...) are sold at around 14-14.3 million VND per ton, depending on type. This is the 18th decrease of domestic steel since the beginning of the year, bringing the price of this item to a 3-year low.
The real estate market - the main consumption segment of construction steel has not "moved", the deep decrease in demand is believed to be the cause of the continuous plunge in steel prices.
Mr. Hung Vu, owner of a general steel dealer in Thanh Ha (Ha Dong), said that steel sales are very slow even at the peak of the construction season. From the beginning of the 7th lunar month, sales decreased by 60% due to "the month where people abstain from repairing and rebuilding their houses".
According to the forecast of the Vietnam Steel Association (VSA), the price of construction steel has not stopped falling with the current weak demand.
The market is gloomy, the big steel production enterprises have reduced production output. Like Hoa Phat, accumulated in 7 months, this group produced nearly 3.5 million tons of crude steel, down 30% compared to the same period in 2022. Sales volume of the "big man" in the steel industry also went down 23% compared to the same period. same period last year, only 3.46 million tons.
Particularly for construction steel, Hoa Phat's sales volume is 1.9 million tons after 7 months, down 30% compared to the same period in 2022.
Statistical data from the Ministry of Industry and Trade shows that import demand for products needed for production such as steel fell by nearly 31% in the first 7 months of the year due to difficulties in export orders of businesses. The decrease in demand in the world market also caused the export price of Vietnam's iron and steel to drop by nearly 25%.
Vietcombank Securities Company (VBCS) in a recent report maintains the view that steel prices cannot recover in the second half of this year, because steel demand in China is still weak when the real estate market has not thawed. Meanwhile, the forecast of BIDV Securities Company (BSC) is more optimistic when it is expected that domestic steel prices will recover following the trend of world steel prices.
Source : E.vnexpress
