Investors in several steel projects in industrial parks in the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau have withdrawn their investment applications due to insufficient capital.— Photo vef

HCM CITY (Biz Hub) — Investors in several steel projects in industrial parks in the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau have withdrawn their investment applications due to insufficient capital, according to the the province's Industrial Park Authority.

Nguyen Anh Triet, chief of the agency, said licenses granted to projects invested by Southern Steel Sheet and Essar Viet Nam, had been revoked.

Triet said investors had applied for withdrawal of these projects, which had been progressing at a snail's pace due to lack of capital.

Owners of these projects revealed that they couldn't find customers for their projects's products. Total output of steel plants in Ba Ria-Vung Tau amounts to 10 million tonnes annually, accounting for about 40 per cent of the country's steel products.

According to the Viet Nam Steel Association (VSA), the country's steel sector shouldered a trade deficit of over $5.68 billion in 2013, making the sector with the biggest trade deficit in Viet Nam.

VSA said in January that steel consumption in the domestic market is estimated at 235,000 tonnes, down 42 per cent over the same period last year, bringing the amount of steel products in stock to 850,000 by the end of January. — VNS