According to the preliminary statistics figures of the General Department of Customs, in July of 2019, Vietnam imported 1.24 million tons of iron and steel, equivalent to 821.43 million USD, with the average price of 662.76 USD per ton, up by 19.2 per cent in volume, 13.9 per cent in value but down by 4.4 per cent in price compared to June of 2019. As compare to July of 2018, the imports of iron and steel also increased by 5.2 per cent in volume but decreased by 6.6 per cent in turnover and down 11.2 per cent in price.

Generally, in the first 7 months of 2019, the country imported 8.39 million tons of iron and steel, valued at 5.64 billion USD, with the average price of 672.6  USD per ton, up by 42 per cent in volume but down by 2.8 per cent in value and down by 6.7 per cent in price over the same period of 2018.

In the first seven months of this year, Vietnam’s imports of iron and steel from China reached 3.46 million tons, equivalent to 2.19 billion USD, with the average price of 633.4 USD per ton, accounting for 41.3 per cent of the country's total iron and steel imports and accounting for 38.9 per cent of the total value, down by 10.7 per cent in volume, 21 per cent in turnover and 11.5 per cent in price over the same period of 2018.

Japan was the second largest iron and steel import market of Vietnam with 1.2 million tons, equivalent to 814.72 million USD and the price of 677.9 USD per ton, accounting for 14 per cent of the total volume and total value, down by 7 per cent in volume, 10.4 per cent in turnover and 3.6 per cent in price over the same period last year.

The third largest market was South Korea. The imports of iron and steel from South Korea in the first seven months of this also decreased by 5.3 per cent, 5.6 per cent and 0.3 per cent in volume, value and price, respectively over the same period last year, reaching 992,030 tons, equivalent to 804.88 million USD, and the price was at 811.4 USD per ton, accounting for 11.8 per cent of total iron and steel imports of the country and accounting for 14.3 per cent of total value.

They were followed by Taiwan market with 933,995 tons, equivalent to 561.53 million USD, accounting for 11 per cent of the total volume and total value, up by 5.3 per cent in volume but down by 4.2 per cent in turnover over the same period last year. The import price reached 601.2 USD per ton, down by 9 per cent.

In general, the country’s imports of iron and steel from most markets in the first 7 months of this year increased in value over the same period of 2018; in which the imports from Turkey and Mexico increased significantly. Specifically, the imports from Turkey increased by 42.3 times in volume and 28.5 times in value, although it reached only 41,300 tons, equivalent to 26.99 million USD; while the imports from Mexico increased by 23.5 times in volume and 18.9 times in turnover, reaching 5,693 tons, equivalent to 3.53 million USD. Besides, the imports also increased strongly by over 100 per cent in both volume and value in markets such as Belgium, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Australia and South Africa.

In contrast, iron and steel imports from Saudi Arabia dropped the most, down by 98 per cent in both volume and value over the same period last year, reaching only 83 tons, equivalent to 0.06 million USD. In addition, iron and steel imports from Denmark also decreased by 92.2 per cent in volume and 79.2 per cent in turnover, reaching 43 tons, equivalent to 0.09 million USD.

 

CK