Posted on 24 Feb 2025
The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has issued two BIS licence certificates for Vietnam-based steelmaker Hoa Phat Dung Quat Steel Joint Stock Company, Kallanish notes.
As per sources, this is the company’s first BIS licence application, marking its entry into India. A BIS licence allows foreign companies to trade in the country.
The validity of both of Hoa Phat’s BIS licence certificates runs until 5 February 2026. This is the second Vietnamese steel mill to receive a BIS licence in recent weeks.
In early February, BIS renewed the licence certificate for Formosa Ha Tinh Steel Corporation with a validity until 4 December 2025 (see Kallanish passim).
Hoa Phat’s BIS licence, having a CML (Central Mark Licence) number 4100208164, is applicable to standard number IS 1079:2017, for specific hot rolled carbon steel sheet, plate and strip grades, without micro alloying. It applies to HR0, HR2, HR3 and ISH270C qualities with a strip thickness of 1.5-12mm and width of 900-1,524mm, BIS says.
Hoa Phat’s second BIS licence certificate, with CML number 4100208265, is applicable for standard number IS 11513:2017, for HR strip for cold rolling purposes, without copper bearing steel. It applies to thicknesses between 1.5-12mm and widths of 900-1,524mm.
The industry reaction to yet another Vietnamese steel mill entering the Indian market is neutral but cautious, as the market is awaiting the outcome of India’s safeguard probe to obtain a clearer direction.
A domestic trader says the impact from the BIS move will depend on the outcome of the safeguard probe. “If [there is] no safeguard, then markets might get softer.”
Another source expects there will be more clarity on its impact by the first week of March. He adds: “We will come to know how [the] market is behaving [by the first week of March]. The safeguard duty issue will also be clear.”
“In my view, no impact – the safeguard will take care of this. The Indian government is probably doing a balancing act,” another source adds.
In December, the Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR), the Indian commerce ministry’s trade investigation body, initiated a safeguard investigation on imports of non-alloy and alloy flat steel products (see Kallanish passim).
Some market participants meanwhile say the ongoing anti-dumping investigation concerning imports of hot rolled flat products originating in or exported from Vietnam is unlikely to result in measures.
An industry veteran believes Vietnamese steel companies may never be subjected to an anti-dumping duty, as over six months have already passed since the probe was initiated.
The DGTR has scheduled an oral hearing regarding the dumping probe on 27 February. The investigation was initiated in August 2024 (see Kallanish passim).
Indian net finished steel imports reached a record high in April-January – the ten months of the current fiscal ending in March 2025 (FY25). Finished steel imports rose 21.4% year-on-year to 8.37 million tonnes, while exports fell 28.9% to 3.99mt (see Kallanish passim).
Source:Kallanish
