Vietnamese steel major Hoa Phat Group has seen its billet and construction steel exports surge in April, while its production has been curtailed. The coronavirus has imposed restrictions on production, and has made exports more competitive than the locked-down domestic market, Kallanish notes.

In April, Hoa Phat saw finished construction steel output drop around -30% month-on-month to 270,000 tonnes, it says. This was a response to restrictions on construction sites to halt the spread of the coronavirus. It also saw a 16.9% year-on-year increase in construction steel exports as a result of weak domestic demand, it notes. 

The more dramatic response however was a sharp increase in billet exports in April. These increased by around 50,000t to 183,000t. Its billet sales have now totalled 530,000t over January-April. 

Much of the increase in exports has been driven by demand from China. China imported 378,618t of semis from Vietnam in the first quarter, up from just over 9,000t a year earlier. Vietnam accounted for more than 20% of Chinese semis import over the period, compared with 3.45% a year earlier.