Amid the gloomy global market, the domestic steel market suffered a downward trend during January in terms of both steel production and sales, with respective figures of 22.3 per cent and 31 per cent over the same period last year.

According to the latest statistics released by the Vietnam Steel Association, January saw the steel production of local firms reach 1,665,273 tonnes, a fall of 26.21 per cent in comparison to the previous month and a drop of 22.3 per cent against the same period last year. 

In addition to these production figures, sales reached only 1,368,009 tonnes, down 31.83 per cent from the previous month, and representing a fall of 30.2 per cent on-year.

Elsewhere, steel exports suffered a decrease of 21.34 per cent to 283,134 tonnes compared to December 2019, representing a drop of 38 per cent against last year's corresponding period .

This January decline can be attributed to a long Tet holiday which has served to affect the consumption of steel products.

According to data on January sales released by Hoa Phat Group, sales of Hoa Phat construction steel reached a modest level of 175,800 tonnes. In contrast to the figures seen during January last year, the firm’s sales of construction steel have dropped by approximately 30 per cent.

Despite suffering a decrease in terms of output, Hoa Phat group have stated that consumption of steel products in the southern region have still increased by over 41 per cent thanks to a fast and adequate supply of products that come from the Hoa Phat Dung Quat iron and steel production complex.