Posted on 19 Mar 2025
Many countries in ASEAN-6 see a significant development in their flat steel demand for the first half of 2024, except Indonesia and Thailand.
Indonesia is experiencing a decline in flat steel demand in the first half of 2024. This drop contrasts with the overall regional trend, where demand has generally been increasing due to a recovered economic activity.
Total flat steel demand in Indonesia registered a decline of 10.4% to 4.8 million tonnes in the first half of 2024. Production expanded moderately, at 3.5% to 4.3 million tonnes. Import of hot rolled coil and sheet expanded slightly, while import of cold rolled coil and coated sheet recorded negative growth. Export of flat steel jumped from 1.9 million tonnes to 2.3 million tonnes in the same period.
Malaysia’s flat steel demand, on the other hand, saw a robust recovery in the first half of 2024, with demand surging by 49.2% y-o-y. The total flat steel demand increased from 1.8 million tonnes to nearly 2 million tonnes. Local steel mills ramped up production to meet the rising demand, as well as to substitute imports with production ramping up from installed capacity late 2023. Imports also played a key role in fulfilling demand, especially the import of hot rolled coil (rose 25% to 1.3 million tonnes). Flat steel export increased 42.6% to 583,810 tonnes, most of which was the export of welded pipes.
The Philippines experienced a modest increase in flat steel demand in the first half of 2024, growing 4.2% year-on-year to reach 1.7 million tonnes. However, the country lacks domestic flat steel production, relying entirely on imports to meet its requirements.
Flat steel demand in Singapore showed remarkable growth in the first half of 2024, nearly doubling in volume to reach 322,915 tonnes, compared to the same period in the previous year.
There is no flat steel production in the country. All demand was fulfilled by imports, which reached 593,598 tonnes – a 3% y-o-y increase. Approximately half of the import was re-exported, which was mostly hot rolled plate. The import of hot rolled plate was mainly for domestic use for infrastructure projects and shipbuilding and the re-export was mainly for shipbuilding and repairing in Batam, Indonesia.
Thailand’s flat steel market faced a 3.1% decline in demand in the first half of 2024. Despite this demand contraction, flat steel production saw a 7.% increase. This could be because of a low production level during the same period in 2023, meaning the increase is partly a recovery from the previous low. This reflects a continued weak demand in key manufacturing sectors.
Import of flat steel dropped 5.3% to 4.2 million tonnes. This was primarily driven by the 15% decrease of hot rolled coil import, to 1.7 million tonnes. Meanwhile, import of coated sheet saw a positive growth of 3.2%, reaching 1.6 million tonnes.
Export remained stable at 238,074 tonnes. The majority of the export was pipes & tubes, followed by cold rolled sheet.
Vietnam’s flat steel market saw a remarkable 47.5% y-o-y growth, reaching 6.7 million tonnes, which represents an increase of over 2 million tonnes in the first half of 2024.
Flat steel production in the country grew moderately, by 4.4%, reaching 3.4 million tonnes. While production saw a modest growth, the import jumped by 2.4 million tonnes to 7.4 million tonnes. A key driver of this increase was the substantial rise in the import of hot rolled coil, which accounted for nearly 80% of the total flat steel import, and was mainly from China.
Flat steel export in Vietnam recorded a double-digit growth of 10.5% to 4.1 million tonnes. Majority of the export were hot rolled coil and hot dipped galvanized sheet.
All in all, with the mix of challenges and opportunities, the ASEAN-6 flat steel market showed overall positive performance, at 9.9% growth, reaching 20.6 million tonnes in the first half of 2024. Domestic production rose 4.4%, totalling 8.8 million tonnes.
Import recorded a remarkable growth from 17 milion tonnes in the first half of 2023 to 19.3 million tonnes in the same period of 2024, with a significant contribution from Vietnam.
Export surged by nearly a million tonnes, reaching 7.5 million tonnes. This growth was largely driven by significant increases in exports from key countries like Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam.
Source:SEAISI
