Those goals are stated in the draft of the strategy on developing Vietnam's steel industry until 2030, with a vision to 2050, which the Ministry of Industry and Trade has developed to submit to the Government for approval. The strategy is expected to be approved in September.

It will guide State agencies and localities to build mechanisms and policies and to manage the development of the domestic steel industry.

The strategy will help enterprises of the steel industry develop their long-term and short-term business development plans in harmony with the development of the industry and product development strategies.

It will also give directions in production technology and the development of raw materials for the steel industry.

Vietnam now ranks 12th in the world regarding crude steel production, but the Vietnamese steel industry has limitations in terms of technology, raw materials, production capacity and product types.

The goals set out in the drafted Steel Industry Development Strategy until 2030, with a vision to 2050 developed by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, are to overcome these limitations and promote the modern and sustainable development of the steel industry.

Deputy Director of the Department of Industry under the Ministry of Industry and Trade Nguyen Ngoc Thanh said that Vietnam needs policies to develop the metallurgy and material industry, especially steel for the processing and manufacturing industry.

Specifically, developing more large-scale iron and steel complexes with diverse product structures, especially steel products, is necessary for the processing and manufacturing industry. It will focus on encouraging the production of alloy steel, especially for the mechanical and machine manufacturing industries.

Vietnam also needs to develop the steel industry strategy in the direction of attracting investment in large steel complexes to produce a variety of steel products, especially steel used in the processing, manufacturing, mechanical and automotive industries.

According to preliminary forecasts, the total market demand for Vietnam's manufacturing industries by 2030 could reach 310 billion USD. Of which, mechanical engineering for industrial works would account for 120 billion USD, for construction, agriculture and processing, 15 billion USD, for standard equipment, 10 billion USD, railway transport 35 billion USD, subway 10 billion USD and cars 120 billion USD.

This will be a significant market for the domestic steel industry, especially for high-quality fabricated and alloy steel products for the manufacturing industry, a segment in which Vietnam is not self-sufficient in domestic steel production now.

However, most of them are small-scale with a capacity of under 500,000 tonnes each year and outdated technology and they consume a lot of energy, so they have low competitiveness and cause environmental pollution.

Today, the industry has a tiny number of recently established steel complexes with closed technology, such as Hung Nghiep Formosa and Dung Quat steel complexes.

In addition, this industry still depends on imported raw materials, which means it is tied to fluctuations in global prices.

Meanwhile, production capacity and product variety are still limited. The structure of raw materials for production includes 42% from scrap steel (mainly imported) and 58% from iron ore. Hot-rolled coil (HRC) steel manufacturers can produce only eight million tonnes each year, while domestic demand is at 10 million tonnes.

Due to capacity constraints, outdated equipment, high energy consumption, and environmental risks, the quality of domestically produced steel products, especially fabricated steel, is not higher than that of imports, so the competitiveness of the Vietnamese steel industry is still quite low. Domestic enterprises mainly compete with each other, while exports are still at a small volume.

Vietnam's finished steel production is projected to hit 30 million tonnes this year, marking a 7% annual increase, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT).

In the past seven months, finished steel production reached nearly 17 million tonnes, up 9.4% yearly. Coated and colour-coated steel led the growth with a 29.2% surge, followed by construction steel (14.6%) and hot-rolled coil (HRC) (2.9%). Finished steel consumption also climbed by 14.3%, reaching 16.75 million tonnes.

Steel exports totalled nearly 4.9 million tonnes, marking a 6.8% increase. Cold-rolled coils (CRC) saw the highest growth at 40.6%, followed by coated and colour-coated steel and construction steel. However, exports of steel pipes and HRC declined by 1.2% and 0.8%, respectively./.