VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnamese Hoa Sen Group has sent a letter to competent agencies, expressing its anxiety that Bluescope Steel group in South East Asia intends to acquire and monopolize the market, according to Dau tu.

Hoa Sen Group has learned from its different sources of information that Bluescope Steel in South East Asia has been exerting its influences to the governments in the region, and is following a methodical strategy to monopolize the regional galvanized iron sheet market.

Over the last many months, the group has hurried the governments in the region to apply safeguard measures by raising anti-dumping, anti-subsidy lawsuits methodically. These are considered the first steps taken by the group in its ambitious plan to corner the market.

Thoi bao Kinh te Saigon three months ago published a short piece of news, which might not catch much attention from the public at that moment, that Thailand threatened to propose the Thai government to conduct anti-dumping investigations against galvanized iron sheets sourced from Vietnam, if Vietnam could not control its export volume to the country.

Prior to that, in August 2012, the Malaysian Steel Association also gave a similar warning. It said that steel products and PPGI exports to Malaysia soared recently, thus badly affecting the local production, and if Vietnam does not make timely adjustment, it would raise a lawsuit against Vietnamese products.

According to Dau tu, in October 2012, a delegation of MISIF, the organization representing steel manufacturers, escorted by the representatives from businesses, including Bluescope Steel arrived in Vietnam to discuss with VSA on the issue.

Hoa Sen Group, in its letter, pointed out that it was Bluescope Steel Thailand which initiated the campaign of giving warning to Vietnam. This explained why the person who signed at the letter sent to the Vietnam Steel Association (VSA) was a senior executive of Bluescope Steel Thailand.

VSA was then threatened that Thai manufacturers may propose the government of Thailand to conduct anti-dumping investigations against Vietnamese imports, like they once did with the products from China, South Korea and Taiwan.

VSA has also received a similar warning from Indonesia. On December 12, 2012, Bluescope Steel Indonesia and Sunrise Steel petitioned to KPPI, the Indonesian Trade Safeguard Committee, that their production has been seriously influenced by the sharp increases of the steel and iron sheet imports from some regional countries. Indonesian enterprises then asked their government to apply trade safeguard measures on the import products coded HS 7210.61.11.00..

Just one week after the petitioning, KPPI on December 19 released a decision initiating the investigations against the imports from some countries, including.

Meanwhile, in Vietnam, according to Hoa Sen Group, Bluescope Steel Vietnam sent a document to the Ministries of Finance, Industry and Trade and VSA, requesting to raise the import tariffs on some products of HS 7210.70 group to 15 percent from 2013.

In fact, Bluescope Steel Australia has been following a series of anti-dumping lawsuits against similar products made in South Korea, China, Japan and Taiwan.

Hoa Sen Group’s General Director--Tran Ngoc Chu, has noted that the moves by Bluescope Steel showed its strong determination to fight against the foreign exporters who export products to the markets where it has production activities.

Chu, who fears that the South East Asian market may fall into the hands of Bluescope Steel if the regional governments apply the safeguard measures as requested by the Australian group, has called on competent agencies to consider the situation to give effective measures to assist Vietnamese enterprises in this case.

Hoa Sen Group is a big Vietnamese group which held 40 percent of the galvanize sheet market share in 2012, according to cafef.vn.

Compiled by C. V