"September's decline was not expected. We forecast that the price of
steel ingots would go through the 600 USD per tonne mark but instead it
dropped to 580 USD," said the Vietnam Steel Association's Deputy
Chairman Nguyen Tien Nghi.
Nghi added that due to
the low price of pig iron on the world market, Vietnamese consumers are
still waiting for further reductions.
Because of this, the decline has continued into the first few days of this month.
Meanwhile, he added, traders have been selling off their steel stocks.
Due to the situation, many companies and agencies have cut prices by
roughly 300,000 VND (15 USD) per tonne to stimulate the market.
According to a report by the association, the price, excluding
value-added tax, is now standing at about 13.6 million VND (697 USD) per
tonne.
The association said the situation would
steady itself in the second half of October, as the rainy season ends
and demand for construction steel picks up.
"In
addition, when steel stocks are sold out, traders will be forced to
renew their supplies and consumption will increase," Nghi said.
He added that demand on the world market is also increasing which would help push the price back up.
Talking about sales for the whole year, Nghi optimistically said that they would increase by 15 percent over last year.
"Because of high consumption in previous months, the dip in September
will not affect sales for the whole year," he explained.
Last year, the country consumed nearly 4.2 million tonnes of steel./.
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