Posted on 19 Jan 2023
Total flat steel demand in ASEAN-6 registered a negative growth of 6.5% y-o-y to 19.6 million tonnes in the first half of 2022. Production, on the other hand, increased moderately, by 2.6% y-o-y to 8.4 million tonnes in the same period. Import dropped nearly 3 million tonnes and export declined 2.6% y-o-y to 5.9 million tonnes.
Indonesia’s flat steel demand declined by a double-digit growth rate of 11% y-o-y to 3.5 million tonnes in the first half of 2022. Production still increased, at 7% y-o-y to 3.3 million tonnes. This was mainly due to a significant increase of hot rolled coil production, at 8.6% y-o-y to 2.4 million tonnes while hot rolled plate production increased 30,000 tonnes to 929,037 tonnes in the first half of 2022.
Flat steel import in Indonesia dropped 9% y-o-y. This was mainly due to a significant declined in import of hot rolled coil and coated sheet.
Hot rolled coil import dropped 15% y-o-y to 619,569 tonnes from January to June 2022. Import of coated sheet shrank by nearly 200,000 tonnes to 560,315 tonnes.
Indonesia’s flat steel export remained significant with a double-digit growth rate of 22% y-o-y to 2.2 million tonnes in the first half of 2022. Major exported product in Indonesia was hot rolled coil (+23% to 1.3 million tonnes). Export of cold rolled coil increased 5% y-o-y to 454,655 tonnes. Coated sheet export was not significant, but the volume jumped 60% y-o-y to 64,355 tonnes in the first half of 2022.
Malaysia’s flat steel demand dropped 8% y-o-y to 1.9 million tonnes from January to June 2022. Production (hot rolled plate) increased moderately, by 3.4% y-o-y to 60,000 tonnes. Import dropped 7% y-o-y to 2.2 million tonnes. Import of most of flat steel products registered a negative growth rate, except import of electro galvanized sheet, galvalume sheet and pipes & tubes. Export remained unchanged at nearly 400,000 tonnes in the same period.
Philippines has no flat steel production. However, demand registered a positive growth rate of 2% y-o-y to 1.8 million tonnes in the first half of 2022. The only source of flat steel demand in the country comes from import. Import of hot rolled plate jumped 10 times from 10,425 tonnes in the first half of 2021 to 111,793 tonnes in the same period of 2022. This is mainly due to a significant expansion in ship building sector. Import of hot rolled coil, on the hand, declined 19% y-o-y to 244,446 tonnes.
Singapore is another country in the region that has no flat steel production capacity. The demand registered a double-digit growth rate of 11% y-o-y to 382,361 tonnes in the first half of 2022. Both import and export declined by a double-digit growth rate of 12% and 38% respectively. Import of all flat steel products (hot rolled plate, hot rolled coil, cold rolled coil and coated sheet) dropped at double-digit growth rates. Pipes & tubes import, on the hand increased 6.4% y-o-y, or by 10,000 tonnes to 182,678 tonnes. Similarly, export of all flat steel products declined significantly, around 15%-65%, except export of pipes & tubes, which registered a positive growth rate of 16.5% y-o-y to 107,113 tonnes.
Thailand’s flat steel demand dropped 16% y-o-y to 5.4 million tonnes from January to June 2022. Production declined 11% y-o-y, mainly was due to a significant decline in hot rolled coil production, by 1.5 million tonnes to 1.3 million tonnes in the same period. Meanwhile, hot rolled plate production grew 6% y-o-y to 75,000 tonnes.
Import shrank by nearly a million tonnes to 4.2 million tonnes in the same period. All flat steel products import declined by 15%-20%, except the import of pipes & tubes, which increased 15% y-o-y.
Export dropped 13% y-o-y to 242,111 tonnes in the first half of 2022. Thailand is not an exporting country for flat steel. Export volume of most products were as low as below 50,000 tonnes and the volume declined significantly in the first half of 2022.
Vietnam’s flat steel demand registered a positive growth rate of 3% y-o-y to 6.7 million tonnes in the first half of 2022.
Hot rolled coil production rose 4.5% y-o-y to 3.7 million tonnes. There is no production of hot rolled plates in the country. Flat steel import declined 6% y-o-y to 5.9 million tonnes. Most of flat steel import declined, except import of cold rolled coil, an increase of 6.6% y-o-y and hot rolled coil import dropped slightly, at 1% y-o-y to 4.5 million tonnes.
Export of flat steel products dropped by nearly half a million tonnes to 2.8 million tonnes from first half of 2021. Most of flat steel export in Vietnam registered a significant decline of around 10% or more, except the export of cold rolled coil, which increased by 4% y-o-y to nearly 400,000 tonnes in the same period.
Source:SEAISI
