Temporary safeguard tax on imported long steel and steel billets

The Ministry of Industry and Trade applies a temporary safeguard tax of 23.3% on steel billets and 14.2% on long steel for a maximum of 200 days.

The Minister of Industry and Trade has just issued a Decision to apply temporary safeguard measures on steel billets and long steel products imported into Vietnam.

Based on the preliminary investigation conclusion, the Ministry of Industry and Trade applied temporary safeguard measures with a relative tax rate of 23.3% for steel billets and 14.2% for long steel and was applied for a maximum of 200 days.

As for goods originating from underdeveloped countries, if the quantity of goods imported from that country into Vietnam does not exceed 3% of the total quantity of imported goods under investigation and the total quantity of goods imported from those countries into Vietnam is less than 9% of the total quantity of imported goods under investigation, safeguard measures will not be applied.

Cheap steel billets imported massively into Vietnam have caused heavy damage to domestic manufacturing enterprises. (Illustration photo: KT)

The decision to apply temporary safeguard measures on steel billets and long steel products imported into Vietnam was made by the Ministry of Industry and Trade when a series of large enterprises in the steel industry such as Hoa Phat Steel Joint Stock Company, Southern Steel Company Limited, Thai Nguyen Iron and Steel Joint Stock Company, and Viet Y Steel Joint Stock Company simultaneously sent a petition to the Prime Minister about the situation of cheap steel billets being imported massively into Vietnam, causing heavy damage to domestic manufacturing enterprises.

Most recently, Vietnam Steel Corporation (VNSteel); Vietnam Steel Association (VSA) continued to send a petition to the Prime Minister stating that if there are no timely preventive measures, the amount of steel billets imported into Vietnam will reach 4 - 5 million tons in 2016. With this situation, Vietnamese steel billet manufacturers will face the risk of having to close down.

According to VNSteel, the amount of cheap steel billets imported into Vietnam in 2015 reached nearly 1.9 million tons, an increase of more than 300% compared to 2014. In particular, the import of steel billets increased dramatically in December 2015 and January 2016, with the corresponding levels of 317,000 tons and 340,000 tons. In January 2016 alone, the import level increased 3 times compared to the same period.

Meanwhile, the average import price has continuously decreased sharply, from 451 USD/ton (January 2015) to 269 USD/ton (January 2016), causing great difficulties for domestic steel billet manufacturers.

In response to strong recommendations from domestic steel enterprises, on December 25, 2015, the Ministry of Industry and Trade issued Decision No. 14296/QD-BCT on the investigation and application of safeguard measures on steel billets and long steel products. On December 30, 2015, the Investigation Agency sent the Investigation Questionnaire to relevant parties.

Based on the review and study of information from the Investigation Questionnaires provided by relevant parties, from January 29 to February 23, 2016, the Investigation Agency conducted on-site inspections of enterprises producing similar goods and directly competitive goods domestically./.

According to VOV