According to Mr. Le Ngoc Son, Head of International Relation Department of Vietnam Italy Steel Company (VIS), the quantity of Chinese steel under VIS trademark imported into Vietnam is now 10,000 tons, instead of 5,000 tons as previously stated.

These two consignments of steel have been examined for quality at Directorate for Standards and Quality (Stameq), Institute of Construction Science (Ministry of Construction) and Transportation Science Institute (Ministry of Transport and Communication).

According to Mr. Son, the examinations all showed the quality of imported consignments of Chinese steel is higher than Vietnam’s standards.

Regarding the origin of the product, Mr. Son said, beside the main eticket in each 3-ton bunch, the Company will make sub-labels in which origin of product is clear printed and quality of steel made in China is guaranteed by Vietnam Italy Steel Company in each smaller bunch sold in the market. In addition, Vietnam Italy Steel Company will announce information on how to distinguish between VIS labeled steel made in China and one made in Vietnam.

In fact, customers can differentiate differences between these two products by naked eye, said Mr. Son. Instruction to identify will be sent to Vietnam Italy Steel sale agencies who will later inform the customers. Moreover, the company will advertise on mass media so that consumers can easily approach information when buying its products.

Mr. Son added, the selling price of VIS steel made in China is as same as one made in Vietnam. At present, these 10,000 tons of steel is stored in the warehouse of Vietnam Italy Steel Company. As soon as being labeled this imported steel will be launched onto the market.

Another source showed that these 10,000 tons of steel had been ordered but the company hasn’t accepted yet.

On hearing this information, Mr. Pham Chi Cuong, Chairman of Vietnam Steel Association raised a question that why is Chinese steel under VIS trademark imported into Vietnam just to sell at the same price of VND9.6 million/ton as domestic one’s? And how can consumers benefit from Chinese cheap steel?

Mr. Chu Quang Vu, General Director of Hoa Phat Steel Company said that his staff attended the quality test of Chinese VIS steel. It is obvious that the laws do not prohibit importing Chinese steel. The matter here is if quality of Chinese steel is high evaluated, why was not it orthodox-imported by Vietnam Italy Steel Company? We would have not object if the logo of Chinese mill had been transparently printed on the products instead of VIS trademark.

According to Mr. Cuong, if this transaction of Vietnam Italy Steel Company is advocated by state management authorities, other enterprises will follow this precedent. If so, domestic steel producing industry would be killed. Up to now, domestic steel enterprises’ output capacity reaches 6 million tons of steel and 2 million tons of ingots per year. If the market is flooded by Chinese steel bearing Vietnamese trademark, lots of steel producing companies is soon on the verge of bankruptcy.