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Steel consumption may rise 20 percent
Vietnam’s steel consumption may increase about 20 percent this year to 3.8 metric tons as a recovery in the building industry boosts demand, according to Vietnam Steel Association Vice Chairman Nguyen Tien Nghi.
“The government’s stimulus package in subsidizing loans for enterprises has encouraged construction,” Nghi said Monday in a phone interview from Hanoi. “Vietnamese banks’ resumption of lending has helped to revive delayed property projects.”
Vietnam has put in place stimulus measures including tax exemptions and loan subsidies to boost economic growth, which slowed to 3.9 percent in the first half. The government was aiming for an economic expansion of more than 5 percent this year, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said on July 7.
Consumption of construction steel in July reached 380,000 tons, bringing total consumption in the January-to-July period to 2.3 million tons, according to the group’s vice chairman.
Total outstanding loans in the Vietnamese banking system increased 17.5 percent in the first half from a year earlier, the central bank said on July 7. Outstanding property loans in the same period increased 10.5 percent, it said.
thanhnien, bloomberg
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