Proposal to investigate and address the import of Chinese steel.

The Vietnam Steel Association has just petitioned Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai to direct ministries and agencies to strengthen inspection and handling of the import of steel containing the element Boron (0.0008%) from China, which has caused difficulties for Vietnamese steel businesses and resulted in hundreds of billions of dong in lost tax revenue for the State.

Accordingly, in 2012, Vietnam imported 679,000 tons of hot-rolled steel coils and 275,000 tons of hot-rolled steel plates containing boron. Specifically, 427,000 tons of construction steel containing boron were imported from China in 2012, a 331% increase compared to 2011. In the first five months of this year, the amount of imported steel coils (containing boron) reached 270,000 tons.



According to the Vietnam Steel Association, taking advantage of loopholes in alloy steel standards and preferential tax policies—where exporting countries enjoy a 0% export tax and a 9% tax refund for alloy steel, while importing countries like Vietnam have a 0% import tax on alloy steel, and much higher import taxes on other types of steel (5% for steel coils and profiles, and 10-18% for steel bars)—Chinese companies have been mixing very small amounts of boron into steel exported to Vietnam to benefit from the 0% tax rate.

According to SGTT - PH