They were Hoa Sen Group (HSG), TVP Steel Corporation, Nam Kim Steel Joint Stock Company, Đông Á Steel Joint Stock Company, Southern Steel Company, Pomina Steel Corporation and Vina One Steel Manufacturing Corporation. The businesses said HRC is a primary material for producing various steel products used in many sectors including construction and mechanics.

Earlier in March this year, Hòa Phát Group and Formosa Hà Tĩnh Steel Corporation had sent a request to initiate an anti-dumping investigation to the Trade Remedies Authority of Việt Nam regarding HRC products imported from China to Việt Nam. They cited a sudden increase in imported steel volume along with a sharp decrease in the price of HRC steel from China.

Meanwhile, in the other corner, the 12 businesses said an increase in the volume of Chinese HRC imported to Việt Nam alone does not justify an investigation. Under current laws and regulations, conditions to start an investigation must include: the imports being dumped in Việt Nam and the dumping margin must be determined; the imports causing or threatening to cause considerable damage to domestic manufacturing or preventing the formation of domestic manufacturing; and a cause-and-effect relationship between the imports being dumped and the damage caused by them.

They claimed the increase was unavoidable as domestic demand has been rising recently with domestic supply failing to catch up.

According to the General Department of Việt Nam Customs, Việt Nam’s demand for HRC was 11.52 million tonnes in 2022 and 11.59 million tonnes in 2023. Meanwhile, Hòa Phát Group and Formosa Hà Tĩnh Steel Corporation, in total, supplied the market with 4.88 million tonnes in 2022 and 3.4 million tonnes in 2023, a sharp decline of 1.48 million tonnes.

In 2022, Việt Nam imported 6.63 million tonnes of HRC from China and 8.19 million tonnes in 2023, an increase of 1.56 million tonnes, or roughly the shortfall in supply in the domestic market. As HRC supply from markets other than China has remained mostly stable, Vietnamese businesses had to increase imports from China to keep pace with demand.

“Nations that can produce quality HRC at lower cost will have a very competitive product on the export market. The Chinese managed to do just that in 2023 and an increase in HRC volume imported to Việt Nam has been in line with free-market principles,” said the group of steel businesses in a statement.

Furthermore, a decrease in prices, from US$618 in Q1/2023 to $557 per tonne in Q4/2023, by itself, was not enough to make Chinese HRC the target of an investigation.

The businesses said an HRC manufacturer’s price depends on many factors including cost of production, which differ greatly among countries, as well as market supply and demand at the given time. It is standard practice for manufacturers to offer discounted prices as they try to gain a competitive edge in the global market.

They said in order to determine whether Chinese manufacturers were dumping HRC in Việt Nam it was inadequate to simply compare prices at two different times. Instead, the authority must compare HRC prices in China and Việt Nam to determine if the margin was sufficient for an investigation. The businesses also dismissed a complaint that Chinese manufacturers were selling HRC at a loss in Việt Nam, a claim that cannot be verified as no manufacturers in Việt Nam can access Chinese manufacturers’ accounting books.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) has not made a decision but confirmed a process to review the case has been started. — VNS