Indonesia: Krakatau Steel Submits Anti-Dumping Petition Against Chinese Steel Imports

Indonesian steelmaker Krakatau Steel said that it has submitted an anti-dumping petition to Indonesia Anti-Dumpting Committee (KADI) against the imports of HRC/Plate steel alloys from various countries especially People's Republic of China (PRC).

Imports of alloy steel products such as boron steel which are in fact a similar product produced by domestic steel producers and intended for commercial use have disrupted the performance of national steel producers. In last five years, the import of alloy steel has continued to grow from 1.4 MnT in CY15 to 3.2 MnT in CY19, where the condition is that the volume of carbon steel imports continue to decline which is substituted increasing significantly imported alloy steel volumes.

Reporting numbers from central Stats Agencies, the number of imported HRC/ Plate steel alloys or also called Hot Rolled steel sheets reached 675,000 MT. The import volume is quite high considering that 65% of them can be produced by national producers.

Silmy Karim, Chairperson of Indonesian Iron and Steel Association (IISIA), who is also the President Director of Krakatau Steel (PTKS), said that the petition making is one of the efforts to control the imports of iron and steel entering Indonesia, especially from China.

"Currently, many exporting countries export steel products in an unfair way, such as dumping, when in fact the actual alloy steel/special steel should have a high selling price because it is only used by certain industries. Whereas, steel "alloys" from China have most of the same specifications as ordinary carbon HRC products produced by domestic steel producers and are currently experiencing oversupply", Silmy said.

Silmy hopes the petition will gain support from related parties, including the government, as considers it a move to protect the country's iron and steel industry.