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Steel supply sufficient to keep prices stable: Association
A stable supply of steel will keep local prices steady through the end of the year, according to a top industry official quoted in Lao Dong newspaper Wednesday.
Vietnam Steel Association Chairman Pham Chi Cuong said more than 165,600 tons of finished steel and 470,000 tons of billets were in stock at member companies of the association, enough to meet demand for construction steel until the end of September.
As several new steel plants were set to start production later this year, steel output in the country could exceed demand, Cuong noted.
“The association will keep watch over steel prices on the market and will ask authorities to intervene if there are arbitrary price hikes,” he said.
Local steel makers have raised their prices three times since the beginning of last month, currently offering their products at around VND12 million (US$678) per ton. The association said the hikes were necessary as prices of imported materials surged amid an improving economic situation.
Cuong said despite pessimistic predictions earlier, consumption of construction steel in the January-to-July period still increased 10 percent year-on-year to 2.31 million tons.
thanhnien
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