Hoa Phat Group, a major Vietnamese steel manufacturer, has inked a contract to export 10,000 metric tons of wire rod steel to Europe – the first-ever order of Vietnamese steel bound for the continent.

The contract is expected to unlock a new, potentially lucrative market for Vietnamese steel products.

According to a representative of Hoa Phat Hung Yen Steel Co. Ltd., a subsidiary of Hoa Phat Group, the low-carbon wire rod batch was manufactured in line with standards issued by the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) and is expected to be delivered to the European buyer in February of next year.

Excluding Antarctica, the deal will give Hoa Phat’s long bar steel operations a foothold on all the world’s continents – a fine addition to the hot coiled steel and galvanized steel sheets it already exports to Europe.

Other new markets the company plans to ship products to in January and February of next year include Canada, Cambodia, South Korea, and Thailand.

According to a report by the Vietnam Steel Association (VSA), steel production and demand have been gloomy throughout 2022, primarily due to increased costs, fluctuations in steel prices, and high inventories.

Statistics from the VSA showed that the nation’s steel product output totaled over 1.8 million metric tons last month, down 10.7 percent month on month and 36.8 percent year on year.

In addition, some 1.9 million metric tons of Vietnamese steel products were consumed in November, up 2.87 percent over October this year but falling 16.2 percent compared to the same period last year.

From January through November of this year, Vietnamese steel product output and sales reached 27.12 and 25.1 million metric tons, respectively, dropping 11.3 and 6.8 percent, respectively, year on year.

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