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SEASI Gives Update on ASEAN Steel Industry Situation in the First Half of 2013

Indonesia registered the highest growth rate of 35% y-o-y with steel demand increasing from 5.6 million tonnes in the first half of 2012 to 7.6 million tonnes in the same period of 2013. Vietnam’s demand of 6.2 million tonnes in the first half of 2013 was a huge increase of 29% y-o-y, while steel demand in Singapore and Malaysia increased 20% and 16%, respectively during the same period. Steel demand in Thailand, on the other hand, stagnated with an increase of only 1% y-o-y in the first half of 2013.
 
Steel production in the region expanded by 12% y-o-y from 12.6 million tonnes in the first half of 2012 to 14.2 million tonnes in the same period of 2013.
 
Production of long steel products in ASEAN surged significantly by 17.2% y-o-y whereas production of flat steel products decreased 0.5% y-o-y in the first half of 2013. Indonesia’s long steel output surged robustly by more than two folds to nearly 2 million tonnes in the first half of 2013, the highest growth rate in the region. Thailand and Philippines both registered significant growth rates in long steel production at 16% and 14% y-o-y, respectively. However, Singapore saw a sharp drop in long steel production in the first half of 2013 with output volume falling by nearly half compared to the corresponding period of 2012. This was due to the shutting down of production for upgrading work by the sole producer in the country i.e. NatSteel Holdings Pte Ltd.
 
Among the three countries in the region that have hot-rolled flat steel production facility, Indonesia is the only country that enjoyed an increase in flat steel production in the first half of 2013 by 12.6% to 1.4 million tonnes. Malaysia’s flat steel output dropped significantly by nearly 50% when compared to the volume in the first half of 2012. Thailand’s flat steel output declined slightly by 2% y-o-y to 1.5 million tonnes in the first half of 2013.
 
Imports increased significantly by 14.6% y-o-y to reach 22.3 million tonnes in the first half of 2013. Vietnam’s import of finished steel showed the highest growth rate of 46% y-o-y to 4.8 million tonnes due to the huge increase of flat product import, which surged 58% y-o-y. Import of long products in Vietnam, on the other hand, dropped by 14% y-o-y in the same period of 2013.
 
Finished steel import in Malaysia registered the second highest growth rate of 24% y-o-y to 3.2 million tonnes in the first half of 2013. Imports of both flat steel and long steel products increased by 22% y-o-y and 29% y-o-y, respectively.
 
Singapore’s import of finished steel increased by 20% y-o-y in the first half of 2013. Both flat and long products registered double-digit growth in import.
 
Philippines and Thailand, on the other hand, registered declines in finished steel imports by 6% and 5% y-o-y, respectively. Philippines’ long product import surged robustly by 48% y-o-y to 632,000 tonnes in the first half of 2013 while import of flat products contracted from 1.1 million tonnes in the first half of 2012 to 845,000 tonnes in the first half of 2013.
 
Overall, export of finished steel in the region declined by 5% y-o-y in the first half of 2013. Most countries in the region experienced declines in finished steel export in the first half of 2013, except Singapore and Vietnam. However, the increase in export volume for the two countries was not significant.

Source: http://www.seaisi.org/news/news_view.asp?news_id=3259