The domestic steel industry is under pressure from consumption demand

According to the Vietnam Commodity Exchange (MXV), in the second quarter, the price of raw materials for the steel manufacturing industry may slow down, stabilizing steel prices after continuously increasing since the beginning of the year now.

The fact that China said it would consider measures to curb iron ore prices could help manufacturing enterprises in Vietnam reduce some input cost pressure. However, consumer demand will still be a big challenge for the industry.

Consumption volume in the first 2 months of 2023 decreased over the same period, of which construction steel decreased by 28% compared to the same period last year, and HRC hot rolled coil reduced by 23%.

It is forecasted that in the second quarter, demand will still be limited in the context of the domestic real estate market facing difficulties. However, the focus on social housing investment projects and public investment will be a bright spot for the steel industry in the coming period, supporting the efforts of manufacturers to overcome difficulties. Vietnamese steel enterprises at present time have also controlled their inventories to a low level, so they will also be able to control their gross profit margin better in the coming time than in the fourth quarter of 2022.

Precious metals break out, and base metals weaken

The metal market ended the 4/4 session with a clear divergence between precious metals and base metals. Platinum rose 3.27% to $1,029 an ounce, its highest level in two months. Notably, the price of silver increased sharply by 4.50%, to the highest level since April 2022, at $25.10/ounce.

Red covered the price list of base metals, with prices of key metals such as copper down 1.84% to $3.97/lb, and iron ore down 1.74% to 118.7 USD/ton. Copper prices fell to a two-week low and iron ore prices fell to their lowest levels since January 2023.