The Steel Titans’ Frenzy: 26 Million Shares Traded in 30 Minutes, Hoà Phát Leads the Metal Rush

On May 30, HPG shares became the focal point of the Vietnamese stock market as the trading volume of matched orders surged. Just 30 minutes after the opening bell, the matched trading volume of HPG shares had surpassed 26 million, nearly 10 million higher than the previous day’s total.

The highest trading volume ever recorded for HPG was 99,658,800 shares on November 18, 2022. The matched orders value reached nearly VND 1,500 billion, accounting for about one-eighth of the HoSE exchange’s liquidity.

As of 9:36 am, HPG shares had increased by approximately 3% from the previous session to a price of VND 26,300 per share.

Not only HPG, but other steel stocks also witnessed positive movements during the trading session on May 30, with significant gains in POM (6.7%), TNS (4.7%), TLH (3.1%), and NKG (3%), among others.

Additionally, the liquidity of many other steel stocks also increased on the same day.

Shanghai rebar futures have been on a persistent downward trend since late 2021 and have now reached their lowest point since 2017, as China’s steel industry grapples with oversupply and weak demand.

On May 29, Hoa Phat Group and Germany’s SMS group signed a contract for the provision of technology and production lines for special steel and rail steel with an annual capacity of 700,000 tons. The project is expected to be completed within 20 months, with the first high-speed rail products scheduled for release in Q1 2027.

Specifically, SMS Group will design, supply, and install the production line for special steel and rail steel for Hoa Phat. The rail rolling process will include a Bloom & Beam Blank heating furnace, roughing mill, universal reversing mill, automatic surface and profile detection system using laser scanning, non-destructive testing (NDT) for quality control, straightening machine for optimal quality assurance, rail head hardening system, and rail drilling system. All major equipment will be manufactured in Germany with strict and synchronized quality control to meet the requirements for producing rails serving high-speed railways in Vietnam and worldwide.

The output products will be various types of special steel that no other Vietnamese enterprise has been able to produce. These include urban railway rails, bridge girders, high-speed railway rails, and special steel shapes such as U, I, H, and V sections, serving key national railway projects and exporting to international markets.

Currently, only a few large steel groups worldwide can produce high-speed railway rails, including Voestalpine (Austria), JFE (Japan), Baosteel (China), and JWS Steel (Italy), among others.

With this investment, Hoa Phat Group will become the only enterprise in Southeast Asia capable of producing steel rails for high-speed railways.