As Vietnam and the Custom Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan(VCUFTA) expect to sign a free trade agreement in 2015, the VietnamSteel Association (VSA) advocates gradually reducing the steel importtariff over ten years rather than eliminating it immediately so thatdomestic steel producers could retain their competitiveness.
Thesteel sector already faced difficulties from low consumption, coupledwith competition from low-priced Chinese steel, VSA chairman Ho NghiaDung said. Meanwhile, Russia was the world's fifth largest steelexporter in terms of production volume, churning out 70 million tonnesper year.
Russia also spent far less than othernations to produce steel, Dung said. In the 1980-90 period, Russiastarted producing steel using high-tech methods that saved fuel andtime. To produce a tonne of steel embryo, Russian steel producers neededonly 50 kWh, while Vietnamese producers needed 500-600 kWh.
FormerVSP Chairman Pham Chi Cuong warned that eliminating the steel importtariff in the beginning of 2015 will force many domestic small- andmedium-sized steel firms out of the game. The country has only a fewlarge enterprises producing more than one million tonnes per year.-VNA
Thesteel sector already faced difficulties from low consumption, coupledwith competition from low-priced Chinese steel, VSA chairman Ho NghiaDung said. Meanwhile, Russia was the world's fifth largest steelexporter in terms of production volume, churning out 70 million tonnesper year.
Russia also spent far less than othernations to produce steel, Dung said. In the 1980-90 period, Russiastarted producing steel using high-tech methods that saved fuel andtime. To produce a tonne of steel embryo, Russian steel producers neededonly 50 kWh, while Vietnamese producers needed 500-600 kWh.
FormerVSP Chairman Pham Chi Cuong warned that eliminating the steel importtariff in the beginning of 2015 will force many domestic small- andmedium-sized steel firms out of the game. The country has only a fewlarge enterprises producing more than one million tonnes per year.-VNA
