Mr Pham Chi Cuong chairman of the Vietnam Steel Association said that the country's steel inventories at the end of June 2012 surged by 15% YoY, hitting the new record high. He pointed out that the Vietnam's current monthly stocks of steel products were at 350,000 tonnes while the country's steel consumption was only at 300,000 tonnes.
In the previous few year, the country's monthly steel product inventories were at 250,000 to 300,000 tonnes while the sales volumes of steel products were at 400,000 to 450,000 tonnes. According to Mr Pham Chi Cuong, in the past two months, some steel mills in Vietnam have been forced to postpone the production due to weak demand.
Meanwhile, he added the Vietnamese steel industry might fail to raise output by 3% to 4% in 2012 since the country's steel consumption and prices were declining over the past two months. At the same time, he said that around 20% of the Vietnamese steel enterprises will face bankruptcy this year