The golden era of the Vietnamese steel markets is coming to an end.
After a decade of rapid growth, market participants are expecting steel demand in Vietnam to continue to taper off next year after peaking in 2017."We do not expect to see the kind of phenomenal growth for downstream steel products in both the domestic and export markets from 2019," a director in charge of flat steel exports at a Vietnamese mill told Fastmarkets MB on the sidelines of the 2018 Asean Iron & Steel Sustainability Forum in Ho Chi Minh City on Monday November 26.Vietnam's steel production and consumption had grown by leaps and bounds in the 10 years to 2017.Its apparent steel consumption grew at an average rate of 107.5% per year between 2007 and 2017 to reach 21.63 million tonnes. Over the same period, its billet production grew at an average rate of 118.4% per year to reach 11.47 million tonnes, according to data...