Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnamese steel has faced nearly10 trade remedy cases in just over a month, which has once again put theindustry under great pressure from trade barriers in other countries.

The Vietnam Steel Association (VSA) said that withinthe last one month or so, the steel industry encountered eight trade remedycases in seven markets. They include safeguard measures by the Thai Ministry ofCommerce and the European Union, and anti-dumping investigations by the CanadaBorder Services Agency and the Malaysian Ministry of International Trade andIndustry.

Meanwhile, the US Department of Commerce haslaunched two anti-circumvention probes into corrosion-resistant steel andcold-rolled steel imported from Vietnam.

The Eurasian Economic Union also started globalsafeguard measures for alloy and non-alloy steel. The Directorate General ofTrade Remedies under the Indian Ministry of Commerce and Industry has alsocommenced a countervailing duty investigation into stainless steel pipes fromVietnam and China.

Iron and steel products top the list ofVietnamese exports suffering from trade remedies.

Director of the WTO and the Integration Centreat the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry Nguyen Thi Thu Trang said that byJune 2018, Vietnam had faced 78 anti-dumping cases, 12 anti-subsidy andcountervailing measures, and 17 anti-circumvention cases. Notably, steelproducts are involved in 37 of the anti-dumping cases and nearly three-quartersof the countervailing cases.

VSA Chairman Ho Nghia Dung said tradeprotectionism is increasing in the context of strong integration at present.Most trade remedies come from key markets of Vietnam like the ASEAN countries,the US and the EU.

These cases will greatly affect Vietnameseexports from not only now until the year’s end, but also over the years tofollow. To sustain export growth, businesses and the VSA will have to exert theirutmost efforts to seek new markets and deal with trade remedy cases, he noted.

Vietnam shipped abroad some 3.6 million tonnesof steel in 2016 and 4.7 million tonnes in 2017.

“Obviously, the rapid export growth has madeother countries pay attention to Vietnamese steel and apply trade remedy measuresto protect their domestic production,” Dung added.

A majority of Vietnamese steel is suspected ofhailing from other countries like China and the Republic of Korea withcircumventing duties imposed on products of these nations. 

He said that in order to handle this problem,the steel sector has to perfect its production process and improve itscompetitiveness. In particular, they need to form a closed manufacturing cyclefrom input materials to production, gradually eliminating foreign factors to minimisethe suspension that other countries’ products take advantage of Vietnam tocircumvent duties.

Nguyen Thanh Trung, Chairman of the Board ofDirectors and General Director of the Ton Dong A Corporation, said that othercountries’ protection measures are causing difficulties for the domestic steelindustry. His company is upgrading technology as it will not only help protectthe environment, but also it will ensure the quality of steel is maintained.This will help Vietnamese steel become more confident on foreign markets andreduce the application of trade remedies from other countries.

A representative of the Hoa Phat Group said thatby building an iron and steel complex in Dung Quat Economic Zone in Quang Ngaiprovince, the firm will become the second hot-rolled steel maker in Vietnam, aswell as the only company owning a complete production chain from oreexploitation to steel distribution. It will help Hoa Phat promote competitivenessand minimise involvement in anti-circumvention and anti-dumping cases in exportmarkets.

The Trade Remedies Authorities of Vietnam underthe Ministry of Industry and Trade recommended that to cope with and avoidtrade remedies, businesses should actively diversify its markets and avoidover-dependence on one single market. They also need to diversify products,boost product quality, reduce the competition tactic of cheap prices, and usemore local materials. –VNA