Under the proposal made by the Ministry of Finance, export tariff for billets would rise from zero percent to 5 percent, while the most favored nation (MFN) import rates for certain steel products would be reduced to 10 percent from 15 percent.

The proposal is aimed at cutting the prices of construction steel, which have shot up 40 to 50 percent compared to early 2020.

VSA has protested the proposal, arguing that the prices were impacted by the global raw materials market rather than the current tariff policies, or any trade remedies applied to steel products.

VSA chairman Nghiem Xuan Da noted that most of the input materials for steel production are imported. A price hike in these materials will immediately affect domestic manufacturers, causing output prices to skyrocket.

However, the global steel prices have declined since late May.

Vietnam reaped steel export earnings of $4.9 billion in the first half of this year. Meanwhile, it produced 16 million tons of steel, up 37 percent over the same period last year.