Vietnam Halts Licensing Normal Steel Projects

The Vietnamese government has asked the Ministries of Industry and Trade, and Natural Resources and Environment, and localities to scrutinize granting of steel investment licenses and temporarily stops licensing normal steel projects, according to a recent document issued by Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai.

 

The decision was made upon the Vietnam Steel Association’s requests regarding some measures to carry out the overall development plan for the steel sector during the 2007-2015 period and a vision to 2025.

 

Only those projects that ensure sufficient iron ore materials and are high-quality steel projects are subject to consideration for investment approval, stated the document.

 

The deputy PM also assigned the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to check sources of materials for licensed steel projects and make proposals to handle those projects that do not have enough materials for long-term production.

 

Currently, three large-scale steel projects are awaiting for approval in Vietnam, namely, Tata-VNSteel (a Vietnam-India joint venture), South Korea’s Posco and Japan’s JFE. (Vietnam Economic Times, Labor)