Vietnam still imports products from China that are plentiful at home

Steel

According to the General Department of Customs (GDC), in the first eight months of the year, Vietnam imported 7.3 million tons of steel from China, worth US$2.9 billion.

Experts have repeatedly warned about the steady increases in steel imports from China, saying that Chinese cheap imports would kill domestic production.

A report of the Vietnam Steel Association (VSA) showed that its member companies in August put out 1,532,496 tons, an increase of 29.1% compared with the same period last year and 5.7% compared with the month before.

In the first eight months of the year, Vietnam’s steel mills churned out 11.5 million tons, up by 29 percent.

VSA pointed out that the high increase of over 29 percent in steel production shows that domestic steel mills are capable of satisfying the domestic demand. However, trading companies keep importing steel from China because Chinese products are 10 percent cheaper than Vietnamese.

Coal

Also according to GDC, Vietnam imported 9.7 million tons of coal in the first eight months of the year, worth US$605 million, a sharp increase of 191.5% in volume and 107% in value.

In the same period of last year, Vietnam imported 3.3 million tons to run coal power plants, while the figure was just 1-2 million tons a year in the previous years.

China, the biggest coal export market for Vietnam in the past, has become one of the three biggest exporters to Vietnam.

Vietnam imports coal not because it is running out of coal. Vinacomin, the largest coal miner, has confirmed that Vietnam’s coal reserves are large enough for exploitation for hundreds of years.

Meanwhile, a Vinacomin report released in mid-2016 showed that Vietnam had 10 million tons of unsold coal.

The problem is that domestically exploited coal is more expensive than imports. Therefore, Vinacomin decided to import cheap coal to mix with domestic high-quality products for sale. 

Fruit and Vegetables, seafood
Vegetables and seafood are Vietnam’s key export items. It exported $4.4 billion worth of seafood and US$1.6 billion worth of vegetables and fruits in the last eight months.

However, it spends a lot of money to import vegetables and fruits from China, even though many Chinese products are believed to be unsafe. $39 million was spent to import seafood and US$125 million to import vegetables & fruits from China.

According to the Lang Son province Plant Phytosanitary Sub-department, about 200 tons of Chinese fruits cross the border gates to Vietnam daily.