Illustrative image (Source: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) – Construction steel sales arepredicted to recover in the remaining months of 2020 after a fall in the January-Augustperiod due to impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the VietnamSteel Association (VSA).
VSA Vice Chairman Trinh Khoi Nguyen said that in the shortterm, the domestic market will see higher demand after the social distancingperiod ended, thus bettering sales of construction steel from September.
A VSA report showed that production of construction steel inthe first eight months of 2020 reached more than 6.6 million tonnes, down 6.9percent year on year. Meanwhile, stales of the product reached 6.66 milliontonnes, a decrease of 5.8 percent over the same period last year, including906,962 tonnes exported abroad, down 5.9 percent.
Currently, construction steel inventories stand at more than604,000 tonnes, which is at a medium level.
The COVID-19 pandemic outbreak in Da Nang in late July and itsspread to some other localities greatly affected the recovery of business andproduction activities as well as the whole economy.
In the first eight months of 2020, production of steel ofall kinds reached more than 16 million tonnes, down 5 percent year on year,while sales it nearly 14.44 million tonnes, a decrease of 6.9 percent,including 2.74 million tonnes exported, a drop of 13.8 percent over the sameperiod in 2019.
The increased disbursement of public investment in August andthe first eight months of 2020 rose 45.4 percent and 30.4 percent year on year,respectively, the highest in the five-year period thanks to the Government’sefforts to speed up the recovery of business and production, which helpedpromote sales of steel.
As a result, steel production exceeded 2.34 million tonnesin August, up 11.36 percent over the previous month, while sales reached over2.07 million tonnes, up 5.88 percent compared to that in July. Export volumealso rose 8.81 percent to 462,138 tonnes.
In August 2020, the price of material for construction steelcontinued the rising trend that began in late July.
The VSA noted that domestic firms are competing fiercely tomaintain their market shares, leading to only slight adjustmentsin steel prices despite the increase in material prices./.
VNA
