Viet Nam's steel market is likely to recover in the third and fourth quarters of this year thanks to augmented efforts to disburse public investment and credit packages for social housing projects, said Doan Danh Tuan, deputy chairman of Viet Nam Steel Association (VSA).

Viet Nam's economic situation, with more positive signs of development, is also expected to support the growth of the steel market, Tuan said.

He thinks 2023 will be a year with many difficulties and challenges for the industrial sector, but Viet Nam's economy is assessed to have more development potential.

Its GDP growth is expected to reach about 6.5 per cent, while global economic growth is forecast at only about 1.5 per cent, and Southeast Asian countries have an average growth rate of about 5 per cent.

The National Assembly has approved an economic recovery support package worth VND350 trillion for 2022-23, of which about VND114 trillion is for infrastructure development, focusing on key projects such as the North-South expressway, Long Thanh airport and large logistics ports.

In addition, in February, the Government approved a credit package of VND120 trillion to develop social housing projects. These factors will lead to strong growth in steel consumption in the third and fourth quarters of this year.

In the long term, according to VSA, Viet Nam's steel demand will continue to grow from 240kg per capita to 290kg per capita in 2030. Steel demand will be concentrated on alloys or high-quality steel.

VSA said crude steel output in the first two months of the year fell 22 per cent year-on-year to 2.9 million tonnes, and consumption decreased by 10 per cent to 3.1 million tonnes.

Crude steel consumption decreased in the first months of this year, but the association said the market has started to improve.

Tran Dinh Long, chairman of Hoa Phat Group, said the most difficult period of the steel industry has probably passed. The internal resources of Hoa Phat and other steel enterprises are good, but the prospects still depend on the market's needs.

They hope that the Government will promote further public investment activities in the future.

In March 2023, Hoa Phat Group produced 440,000 tonnes of crude steel, up 6 per cent compared to February 2023. Sales volume of billet, construction steel and hot rolled coil reached 500,000 tonnes, up 5 per cent monthly.

Hoa Phat supplied to domestic and foreign markets 282,000 tonnes of high-quality construction steel and hot rolled coil, equivalent to February. Still, the consumption was down 45 per cent over the same period last year. — VNS