Pham Chi Cuong, chairman of the Vietnam Steel Association (VSA), told the Daily that the rise of 3 per cent was not too low when the economy was still in difficulty. The hardest-hit segment last year was construction steelmakers due to the long-frozen property market.

He did not expect any robust growth in 2013.

“With difficulties forecast to continue this year, the association can only expect this year’s steel consumption to increase by 2-3 per cent,” Cuong said.

Many plants producing construction steel have been running below 60 per cent capacity for years, and some other plants have had to suspend operation due to a steep fall in consumption.

Dinh Huy Tam, general secretary of VSA, said that the increasing import of low-price steel containing boron from China has made local steel producers run into troubles.

According to statistics of Vietnam’s customs, the volume of such steel imported from China in last year’s seven months was 5.5 times higher than the same period of 2011.

Tam said that although there has been news about Government support for the property market in recent days, it is still impossible to deal with problems of the property market in a short span of time. Therefore, the steel industry is forecast to face many difficulties this year, he added.