Posted on 15 Apr 2024
Total long steel import in ASEAN-6 (Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam) surged 6.8% y-o-y to 4.6 million tonnes while export declined 12.8% y-o-y to below 4 million tonnes.
Indonesia’s long steel import increased 7% y-o-y to 625k tonnes. Import of sections rose by a double digit growth rate of 27% y-o-y to 165k tonnes, likely to be in line with the growing construction sector. 63% of bar and section import was from China. Meanwhile import of bar and wire rod declined slightly. Major source of import for bar was China. Wire rod’s import was mostly from China and Japan.
Export of long steel in total jumped 25% y-o-y to 562k tonnes. Export of section and bar dropped while export of wire rod rose by more than 100k to 506k tonnes. Indonesia export wire rod to many countries, including Malaysia, Thailand, Belgium, Taiwan and Netherlands. Export to Philippines dropped significantly from 100k tonnes in the first half of 2023 to 19k tonnes in the same period of 2023.
Long steel import in Malaysia moderately increased by 5.9% y-o-y to 874k tonnes in the first half of 2023. Import of steel sheet piles was not significant but the volume doubled in volume to 15k tonnes. Both section and wire rod import registered 3% and 7% growth rates while bar import declined 12%. Major source of long steel import in Malaysia was China.
Export of section was not significant and the number rose 8% to 35k tonnes. Bar export doubled in volume to 1.4 million tonnes. Around 70% of the export was to China, followed by export to Singapore.
Wire rod export at 1.04 million tonnes in the first half of 2023 was a decline of 400k tonnes. Malaysia exported wire rod to many countries, including Turkey, Belgium, Thailand, Spain, Netherlands and other ASEAN countries.
Philippines’ import of long steel dropped 7% y-o-y to 646k tonnes from January to June 2023. In Philippines, bar demand is mostly served by domestic production. Import was not significant, but the volume rose 38% y-o-y to 13k tonnes. Most of the import was from China. Wire rod import dropped to 314k tonnes. 80% of the import was from China and the rest was the import from Malaysia and Indonesia.
There was no export of long steel in Philippines normally. However, bar export registered 10k in the first half of 2023.
Singapore’s long steel import rose by 200k to 1.3 million tonnes in the first half of 2023. Section import rose 35% y-o-y to 219k tonnes. More than half of the import was from China. Import of bar doubled in volume to 554k tonnes. Half of the import was from Malaysia, followed by the import from Oman and Vietnam. Wire rod import at 71k tonnes in the first half of 2023 was a substantial decline from 308k tonnes in the first half of 2022. Singapore stopped importing bar from many countries in the first half of 2023, including Vietnam, Russia and Oman. Import from Malaysia dropped by half in the first half of 2023. Major sources were from China and Indonesia for the first half of 2023.
Export increased significantly from 208k tonnes in the first half of 2022 to 315k tonnes in the same period of 2023. This was a result of a huge increase in section export from 1.7k tonnes in the first half of 2022 to 120k tonnes in the same period of 2023. Largest market for section were Indonesia and Malaysia.
Long steel import in Thailand rose 12.5% y-o-y to 1.2 million tonnes. This was a result of a double-digit growth rate of 15% for import of bar to 346k tonnes in the first half of 2023. China has taken over Japan to be the largest source of bar import in Thailand. This could be a result from a return in many manufacturing activities since most imported bar in the countries are merchant bar for manufacturing usage.
Wire rod import registered a 6% growth rate to 636k tonnes. Thailand imported wire rod from many countries. 40% of the import was from China, followed by import from Indonesia, Malaysia, Japan, Vietnam and Taiwan.
Export increased 12% to 445k tonnes. Section export continued to decline in the first half of 2023 to 136k tonnes. Section export to Malaysia (the largest market) declined from 103k tonnes in the first half of 2022 to 67k tonnes in the same period of 2023. Export of bar and wire rod were not significant and the volume increased by 8% each.
Vietnam’s import of long steel declined 28% y-o-y in the first half of 2023, in line with the significant decline in long steel demand. This was a result from a sharp decline in bar import from 405k tonnes in the first half of 2023 to 132k tonnes in the same period of 2023. Section import, on the other hand, rose 22% y-o-y to 71k tonnes. China was the largest source of section import in the country. Wire rod import picked up moderately, by 9% y-o-y to 322k tonnes. Most of the import was from China.
Long steel export dropped 38% y-o-y. Export of Section, bar and wire rod registered a significant decline. Section’s export dropped 7% y-o-y to 114k tonnes. Bar export shrank by half to 345k tonnes. Wire rod export dropped 27% y-o-y to 446k tonnes.
Source:SEAISI
