While falling steel supply from China has slowed the influx of cheap imported steel products, Indonesian producers hope the government will consistently reduce steel imports.
“Control over unfair steel imports should be tightened,” said Purwono Widodo, marketing director at the state-owned steel company, PT Krakatau Steel, as quoted by Kontan. In 2016, Indonesia consumed 12.7 million tons of steel, and demand is expected to increase by 1 million tons annually, PT Krakatau Steel said in a statement posted on its website.
Improving steel prices in the past two years, will help the company to gradually improve its performance, Suriadi Arif, PT Krakatau Steel’s corporate secretary said in a separate statement on its website, on Jan. 24. PT Krakatau Steel plans to increase sales by 40 percent from last year to 2.8 million tons this year to meet growing domestic consumption.
“The price of HRC in December 2017 reached $562/Mt on CFR domestic basis. It surged 260%, from $216/Mt in December 2015,” said Arif.
The Indonesian Iron and Steel Industry Association works with the government because many investors switch HS codes to exempt their products from import duties, Hidayat Triseputro, the association’s executive directors said as quoted by Kontan.
While imports are gradually easing off, the threat from imported products isn’t entirely eliminated, said Kodrat Setiawan, consumer relations at PT Gunung Garuda, a unit of Gunung Steel Group.
“It will require an anti-dumping regulation and a number of safeguards,” said Kodrat as quoted by Kontan. The Gunung Steel Group has obtained safeguard extension for a number of its products, he added.
Kodrat said that the group’s business still grow significantly. Gunung Steel Group’s sales rose to an average of 40,000 tons a month of steel plate in 2017, from 30,000 tons a month in previous years, he said.
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