Rising electricity prices and cheaper imported steel products have hampered PT NS Bluescope Indonesia from expanding its capacity, Kontan reported on late Tuesday, Jan. 30.
The company, a unit of Australian coated steel producers, continues to improve efficiency to ensure it provide customers with competitive price, Kontan reported, citing Simon Linge, President Director PT NS Bluescope Indonesia. Linge underscored imported light coated steel products which have poor quality compare to the domestic products.
“They’re cheaper because of dumping,” Kontan quoted Linge as saying. Bluescope has a production capacity of 250,000 tons a year.
Bluescope sources most of its raw material from local producers.
“Most of it is sourced from Krakatau Steel, and there are some from Gunung Garuda and a few imports from Malaysia,” said Simo. PT Krakatau Steel is reported to supply 10,000 tons of Hot –Rolled Coil a month to Bluescope or roughly 1/6 of PT Krakatau Steel’s total monthly production.
Linge declined to comment on Bluescope’s business outlook for this year. But BlueScope in its 2016/2017 annual report said Indonesia’s sales volume for FY2017 was 9 percent higher, compared to FY 2016 due to growth in the Retail segment.
The company also noted that “Changes to local steel regulation, including import quotas, have tightened supply. The sustainability of these regulations and impact on the domestic market remains uncertain.”
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