Vietnam's Hoa Phat steel pipes enter Japanese market

These Hoa Phat steel pipes cater directly to Japanese consumers through the "Do-It-Yourself" model, meaning that buyers could use the pipes for various purposes like building garden trellises, wooden shelves, carports, or crafting household items, the release explained.

Meanwhile, the release also noted that a Japanese buyer plans to visit Vietnam in the coming time to discuss orders for this year and explore the possibility of importing additional products from the steelmaker.

In 2023, Hoa Phat's total sales volume of steel pipes to both domestic and export markets reached 685,000 tonnes, down by 9% on year, while its export sales of the products jumped by nearly 40% from 2022 despite the challenging global steel market conditions, the release stressed.

Elsewhere, China exported a total of 22,936 tonnes of steel pipes to Japan in the past year, declining by 16.7% from 2022, Mysteel Global learned from the customs statistics.

Indeed, Hoa Phat's rising export trading also reflected the trend that many steelmakers in the six ASEAN countries - Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, and Singapore - have been expanding their steelmaking capacities and exploring overseas trading opportunities in recent years, Mysteel Global understands.

With their new steelmaking capacities expected to rise in the next few years, ASEAN-6's appetite for Chinese steel may decline somewhat and the region may increase its own supply of steel products to the international market, which might put some pressure on Chinese steel exports.

Written by Carly Chen, chenziyi@mysteel.com

Edited by Alyssa Ren, rentingting@mysteel.com