Cheap imported steel makes "some cry, others laugh"

If steel billet imports are stopped, many businesses will welcome it, but many businesses will also speak out against it.

After the Ministry of Industry and Trade issued a decision to investigate and apply safeguard measures to steel billets and long steel products imported into the Vietnamese market, recently, 6 steel enterprises jointly signed a petition sent to the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, and the Ministry of Finance requesting not to apply safeguard measures to imported steel billets.

Explaining this phenomenon, Mr. Tran Thanh Hai, Deputy Director of the Import-Export Department (Ministry of Industry and Trade) said that in 2015, steel imports increased nearly 2 times compared to the previous year and the amount of steel imported was mainly from China. However, China used "tricks" to mix into steel a very small proportion of elements such as Boron, Cr or titanium to "circumvent the law" and turn ordinary steel into alloy steel.

“For alloy steel, the tariff schedule between ASEAN and China stipulates that this tax line will be reduced to 0%. When China massively exported alloy steel to ASEAN countries, including Vietnam, it made these countries “fall backwards”. We must look back at the time, 10 years ago, when negotiating the ASEAN-China Agreement, China must have deliberately “inserted” this tax line so that now not only Vietnam but most ASEAN countries have to suffer the same damage,” said Mr. Hai.

However, according to Mr. Hai, up to now, Vietnam has not used the tools allowed by the WTO to prevent this imported steel flow. While with this phenomenon, Vietnam can completely apply measures to prevent when there are 2 signs: The import has increased dramatically; The import has increased dramatically and directly affected the domestic production process.

Imported steel billets with 0% tax rate cause difficulties for domestic steel production industry. (Illustration photo: KT)

Mr. Hai said that the reason why Vietnam has not yet applied preventive measures is because currently the steel industry has many entities: Some entities only produce steel billets, some need to import steel or use that steel billet to refine and roll out different products, and some entities simply trade in cheap imported steel and sell it at high prices.

“Many subjects and elements operating in the steel sector have created division in the steel community and steel enterprises in general. Therefore, if we now raise the issue of filing a lawsuit or trade defense against steel, there will be businesses that will welcome it, but there will also be many businesses that will speak out against it,” Mr. Hai pointed out.

From the perspective of a state management agency, Mr. Hai said that in the near future, the Ministry of Industry and Trade will have full awareness of the incident and decide in which cases, when and how to intervene to maximize benefits and minimize most of the common difficulties for the business community.

Previously, answering the press on this issue, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade - Mr. Do Thang Hai also said that in any case of investigation and application of trade defense measures in the world (including anti-dumping, anti-subsidy and self-defense) as well as in Vietnam, there will be conflicts of interest between the parties.

In this case, the beneficiaries are domestic producers and upstream industries, while the losers are importers and consumers or downstream industries. That is why countries consider the common socio-economic benefits when deciding to apply a trade defense measure in general and self-defense in particular.

Meanwhile, the laws on investigation and application of safeguard measures of both the WTO and Vietnam are complete, transparent and strictly regulate the conditions and procedures for applying these measures. Accordingly, when domestic manufacturers submit complete and valid dossiers, proving signs of sudden increase in imports leading to damage to the domestic manufacturing industry, the Ministry of Industry and Trade must accept the dossier and issue a decision to conduct an investigation.

According to Deputy Minister Do Thang Hai, this case is still under investigation. The Ministry of Industry and Trade ensures that all investigation processes and procedures are conducted openly, transparently and in compliance with WTO regulations as well as Vietnamese law.

“The Ministry of Industry and Trade always takes note of all comments and recommendations from relevant parties and creates opportunities for relevant parties to present their views on the case. Therefore, the objections to the application of safeguard measures on steel billets by 6 domestic enterprises have been noted by the Ministry of Industry and Trade and will be reflected in the investigation conclusion,” Deputy Minister Do Thang Hai affirmed./.

According to VOV.VN