Ministries propose adjusting import tariffs, encourage use of new materials

Right from the beginning of this year, the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) reported to the Prime Minister on the forecast of supply and demand, as well as price fluctuations of steel products in the global market and Vietnam in 2021 and the coming years.
The MoIT has proposed the PM assign ministries and agencies to coordinate with it to implement solutions to stabilize supply and demand and steel prices. The ministry also proposed the PM direct the Ministry of Finance (MoF) to adopt a policy to control import duties on some steel products with large fluctuations in prices.

Besides, the MoIT proposed the Ministry of Construction (MoC) to forecast and provide the demand for construction steel of the economy in 2021 to balance steel demand, helping enterprises to actively produce and sell steel products.

According to the MoIT, currently, the domestic steel supply is in abundance, but the supply capacity faces difficulties due to the Covid-19 pandemic. With such a situation, the steel market will possibly set up a new price level, which later will be adjusted following the relationship between supply and demand.

Mr. Nghiem Xuan Da, Chairman of the Vietnam Steel Association, added that the association sent an official dispatch to member enterprises to carry out solutions to boost production to soon stabilize the domestic supply.

Amid the complicated developments of the construction material market, Deputy Minister of Construction Le Quang Hung said that the ministry has just proposed some solutions to stabilize supply and demand and construction steel prices.

Specifically, besides monitoring and controlling steel prices with the MoIT and MoF, the MoC will actively follow steel price movements in localities to promptly guide and propose to the Government measures to ensure the operation of the construction market in 2021.

As for more radical solutions, the MoC asked relevant ministries and agencies to study and promote steel production capacity, prioritize the domestic market by adjusting and balancing the export volume of finished steel products; research and guide to change construction technology to reduce steel consumption in construction works, replacing reinforced concrete method with new construction technology on the steel structure.

Some new building materials can also be used to replace conventional building materials, such as ash from cement factories, rock dust from mining sites, recycled sand from construction waste that can replace natural sand.

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