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The Vietnam Steel Association wants the ban on metal scrap waived so that its members can continue importing it as feedstock.
Making steel from steel and iron scrap is an environment-friendly process, which produces only a fifth of the emissions as using iron ore, the VSA said in a letter to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.
China has been restructuring its steel industry in recent years to prioritize using metal scrap, and a similar trend can be seen in the U.S. and EU, it said.
Since the supply of metal scrap in Vietnam can only meet 40 percent of their needs, steelmakers have to depend on imports for the rest, it said.
The VSA petition follows a recent government order to stop import of scrap, which warned that Vietnam is on the verge of becoming the world’s dumping ground after China stopped scrap imports on January 1.
The letter also proposed severe penalties for steelmakers violating import regulations and causing harm to the environment.
Seventy two Vietnamese steelmakers imported over 2.6 million tons of metal scrap in the first half this year, mostly from Japan, the U.S. and Hong Kong.
The figure is estimated to reach 19 million tons in the period from 2018 to 2020, according to the VSA.
