Steel industry still stands strong through the pandemic

Steel production and consumption in January decreased slightly compared to the peak at the end of last year but increased by 55-60% over the same period.

The Vietnam Steel Association (VSA) commented that efforts to control the third wave of the pandemic and the implementation of free trade agreements helped the steel industry not suffer too negative impacts in the first month of this year.

Production output during this period reached 2.65 million tons, up 60% over the same period last year. More than 2.11 million tons of steel of all kinds were sold to the market, down nearly 13% compared to the end of 2020 but up one and a half times over the same period. Of which, export output reached more than 457,000 tons and increased by 6%.

Of which, TVP Steel Company ranked 4th in steel pipe market share with 8.21% (according to the Steel Association).

According to the analysis team of Dragon Capital Securities Company (VDSC), the steel industry is entering a series of major internal fluctuations. Construction demand is decreasing, but some businesses are still growing thanks to finding new markets or gaining market share from weaker competitors.

The game in the flat steel segment will change significantly when domestic factories improve production capacity, meeting most of the domestic hot-rolled steel demand. This leads to opportunities for Vietnamese steel exports to increase when the origin is not China.

In the long steel segment, the market share of companies using blast furnaces will continuously improve because the profit margin is less dependent on raw material price movements and the advantage of scale.

However, VDSC experts believe that the risk the steel industry may face in the short term is the disbursement speed of public investment projects and real estate being blocked due to the epidemic. Besides, fluctuations in raw material prices and stagnation in the process of exchanging imported goods also pose potential threats to the growth plans of steel industry enterprises.

According to Vnexpress