Posted on 01 Nov 2024
Thailand has an annual steel production capacity of about 10 million tons, mainly using the electric arc furnace (EAF) production process. The major steel companies in Thailand are GSteel Steel, GJSteel Steel, and Tata Steel Thailand. In December 2021, Nippon Steel announced that it had paid US$419 million to acquire a 49.99% stake in GSteel Steel and a 40.45% stake in GJSteel Steel. As of now, no new capacity expansion projects have been announced by Thai officials.
Considering efficiency and cost issues, the equipment utilization rate of Thai steel companies is not very high. Thailand's domestic demand for flat steel is mainly met through imports (70%-75% of total imports). Japan, China and South Korea are Thailand's top three sources of imports, while the US, Indonesia and Vietnam are its top three export destinations.
Thailand is not very rich in raw material resources; its iron ore production is very small and it relies mainly on imports. Phu Ang Iron Ore Mine located in Lai Phu, Thailand is the largest iron ore mine in Thailand, with total reserves estimated at 10.9 million tons and an iron content of 65% to 67%. Another mine in Thailand is the Phu Hia iron ore mine. Both of these iron ore mines are located in northeastern Thailand.
Thai steelmakers are worried about the influx of cheap steel products from Russia into the Thai and ASEAN markets after Russia was sanctioned over the Russia-Ukraine war. Russia is looking for new buyers as its steel exports are banned from the European market. Meanwhile, Chinese steelmakers are also seeking to expand exports as steel consumption in China has fallen. If cheap imported steel products are dumped into the Thai market, it is expected to deal a devastating blow to Thailand's domestic steel manufacturing industry.
In recent years, Thailand's steel consumption has been more than 60% dependent on imported steel. In 2018, this figure was 62.3%, rising to nearly 69% by 2023.
For example, in 2023, Thailand's apparent consumption of finished steel was about 16.33 million tons, and in that year, Thailand's production volume of finished steel was only 6.6 million tons, and import volume of finished steel was as high as 11.21 million tons.
As a result, some local Thai steel manufacturers have asked the Thai government to restrict steel imports. For more than a decade, the Thai government has issued a series of anti-dumping measures against imported steel products, but they have been largely ineffective. The main reason for Thailand's rising steel imports is the high cost of Thai-produced steel, as well as an inadequate product range. For downstream companies, it is more cost-effective to purchase imported products. Thai steel imports will continue to rise in the future if Thai steel companies do not seek to reduce production costs and develop mid-range and high-end products.
In 2023, Thailand's consumption of finishes steel declined 0.4% year-on-year to 16.33 million tons from 16.39 million tons in 2022. The CAGR of consumption of finished steel in Thailand is -3.3% over the period 2018-2023.
As the cost of crude steel and steel production in Thailand is higher than in some countries in Southeast Asia, such as Vietnam and Indonesia, and also higher than in China, India and Japan in Asia, the growth of Thailand's domestic steel output volume is expected to be limited in the next few years. In case of low steel prices in the international market, there is a possibility of a decline in Thailand's domestic steel production.
The analyst predicts that Thailand's steel production and consumption will both increase in 2024-2033. The main reason is that Thailand is the country with the strongest comprehensive manufacturing strength in Southeast Asia. On the one hand, the continued growth of Thailand's economy will promote the increase in Thailand's domestic steel consumption. At the same time, with the economic growth of other Southeast Asian countries such as Vietnam, Thailand's steel exports to these countries are expected to increase.
Factors such as the Sino-US trade war will reduce China's steel exports, which will be beneficial to the development of Thailand's local steel industry to a certain extent.
Source:GlobeNewswire
