ASEAN Steel Consumption to Rebound in 2018: SEAISI

SEAISI expects steel demand in ASEAN countries to grow by 6% in CY18.

Steel consumption in six ASEAN countries is expected to recover this year. Consumption in Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam is projected to grow at 6% Y-o-Y in 2018, Mr. Tan Ah Yong, secretary-general of South East Asia Iron & Steel Institute (SEAISI), said at this week's SEAISI conference in Jakarta.

Regional apparent steel consumption is set to pick up this year and surpass 80 MnT in 2019 amid the implementation of construction and infrastructure projects, Tan said.

Steel consumption - Overall apparent steel consumption last year fell by -4.2% Y-o-Y to 73.8 MnT. Due to buoyant construction sectors, Indonesia and the Philippines saw steel consumption expand by 7.3% and 1.5% respectively Y-o-Y to 13.6 MnT and 9.8 MnT. The other nations suffered a drop in consumption on slower construction and destocking activities following a massive stockpiling in 2016 which affected Thailand especially. Thailand saw steel consumption drop by -14.1% to 16.5 MnT.

Increasing steel output - Vietnam and Indonesia saw strong growth of 30.5% and 19.5% respectively in finished steel production to 11.47 MnT and 7.9 MnT. Thailand's steel output increased to 4.47 MnT in CY17 against 3.83 MnT in previous year.

Rising steel exports - Interestingly, regional finished steel exports rose strongly, by 17.9% to 10.1MnT. Vietnam's steel exports, comprising mainly construction longs and flats, rose 24% to 4.7 MnT. Indonesia's finished steel export of mostly flats rose by 70% to 1.35 MnT.
Malaysian and Thai steel exports increased 32% and 21% respectively to 1.4 MnT and 1.3 MnT.

Falling steel imports - Imports fell last year by -8.4% to 49.1 MnT. Chinese steel imports accounted for 43% of total imports, down from 53% in 2016. The share of Japanese and South Korean imports to the region last year was 23% and 11% respectively, up from 19% and 8% respectively in 2016.

~Sourced