The vice chairman of Vietnam Steel Association predicted that the country's steel output would decline by 8% in 2011.

Among them, the production of construction steel would drop by 5% to 6%; that hot rolled and cold rolled steel would dip by 2% to 3%.

Meanwhile, the country's sales volumes of steel production totaled 340 thousand tons in November, much lower than the monthly average level.

Furthermore, the inventory of steel products is at around 350,000 ton 370,000 tonnes currently, higher than usual.

In the background, Vietnam is capable of producing 9 million tonnes of steel annually; however, the domestic consumption is only at 5 million tonnes.

(Sourced from www.yieh.com)