Vietnam’s iron and steel exports to China skyrocketed over the course of the first two months of the year, despite only a slight increase in the country’s overall exports, according to the latest statistics released by the General Department of Vietnam Customs.

The first half of March saw the country ship 297,018 tonnes of iron and steel worth over US$165 million abroad, boosting the two-and-a-half month export volume to approximately 1.5 million tonnes with a value of over US$815 million, representing an increase of 3.8% in volume but a fall of roughly 10% in value in comparison with the same period from last year. 

With regard to other markets, regional partner Cambodia has been able to retain its position as the largest importer of the country’s iron and steel products, in spite of export volume to this market suffering a fall of 20.5% during the reviewed period.

Elsewhere, iron and steel exports to the Chinese market increased rapidly with a two-month export volume reaching approximately 211,000 tonnes, a massive 26-fold increase on-year.

Last year, Vietnam exported over 6.68 million tonnes of iron and steel of all kinds at a total value of US$4.21 billion, representing a rise of 6.7% in volume but a fall of 7.4% in value in comparison with 2018.

Cambodia remained the country’s largest export market, followed by Indonesia, Malaysia, and the United States, while exports to the Chinese market reached only 442,000 tonnes.

Throughout the two-month period, steel export volume to China stood at 50% of the figure from 2019’s equivalent period.