“We are considering various aspects of the project and its implementation in view of the global financial crisis that has occurred since the project was initially proposed,” the company said. This will require discussions with the Vietnamese authorities,” financial institutions and its suppliers, it said.

Talks on the proposed joint-venture plant in Ninh Thuan province with Vietnam Shipbuilding Industry Group, or Vinashin, will take “some time” to complete, the company said.

“We heard about the review,” and the group is “probably” considering the value of investing in a country that already has many steel projects, Nguyen Tien Nghi, vice chairman of the Vietnam Steel Association, said in a telephone interview from Hanoi in 27 July 2009.

Viet Nam may face a “surplus of steel” because of the growing number of projects, Nghi said. Steel producers in the Southeast Asian nation expect construction steel capacity to reach about 7 million metric tons this year, outpacing demand of 3.8 million tons, he said.

“We sent requests to the prime minister to ask the government to review licensing steel projects in order to balance supply and demand,” Nghi said.

The Vietnamese government is targeting economic expansion of more than 5% this year, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said early this month, following 4.5% growth during the last quarter.