Vietnam imposes temporary antidumping duty on HRC from China; imports from India exempted

Vietnam's Ministry of Industry and Trade announced Feb. 21 that it would impose a temporary antidumping tax on certain steel hot-rolled coil imports from China, but imports from India would be exempted.

In an official memo seen by Platts, the ministry said the temporary duty imposed on Chinese HRC is from 19.38% to 27.83%, which would be in effect after 15 days of the announcement on March 7.

The temporary duty will be implemented for 120 days.

The duty would be imposed on HRC products that are either alloyed or non-alloyed, with thickness from 1.2 mm to 25.4 mm and width not exceeding 1,880 mm.

The Harmonized System codes used internationally to classify traded HRC products include 7208.25.00, 7208.26.00, 7208.27.19, 7208.27.99, 7208.36.00, 7208.37.00, 7208.38.00, 7208.39.20, 7208.39.40, 7208.39.90, 7208.51.00, 7208.52.00, 7208.53.00, 7208.54.90, 7208.90.90, 7211.14.15, 7211.14.16, 7211.14.19, 7211.19.13, 7211.19.19, 7211.90.12, 7211.90.19, 7225.30.90, 7225.40.90, 7225.99.90, 7226.91.10 and 7226.91.90.

The Ministry said no provisional antidumping duty will be imposed on HRC imports from India, due to the limited import volumes seen in the investigation period.

The move came seven months after the Vietnamese authorities launched the antidumping probe against HRC imports from China and India in July 2024, following a petition filed by local producers Hoa Phat Group and Formosa Ha Tinh Steel last March.

The petition was launched amid the rapid increase of Chinese imports into Vietnam and the country's growing steelmaking capacity.

In 2024, Vietnam imported 9.03 million mt of HRC from China, marking a 37.2% increase year over year, according to S&P Global Trade Atlas.

Vietnamese steelmaker Hoa Phat Group is working on its Dung Quat 2 steel project, which will be expected to add 5.6 million mt of HRC capacity and will mainly target the domestic market.

Sources said the move was as expected, amid market rumors that the preliminary AD duty would be imposed by the end of February.

The Vietnam HRC market had been in limbo since the probe started, with buyers actively stocking up at first and then buying in small volumes in fears of the looming duty.

Market participants expected more buying interests for 2,000 mm wide materials, which would fall outside of the antidumping duty scope, but might take extra costs for buyers to slit the coils, sources said.