Apparent steel consumption in the ASEAN-6 countries reached 81 mn t in 2019, up 1.2% on year, with the increase mainly coming from flat steel use, Yeoh Wee Jin, Secretary General of South East Asia Iron & Steel Institute (SEAISI), revealed at the 2020 SEAISI e-Conference on June 30.
In 2019, consumption of flat steel among the ASEAN-6 increased by 3.2% on year to 41.8 mn t while consumption of long steel remained largely unchanged, down 0.8% on year at 39.2 mn t, due to a slowdown in construction in some countries in the region, according to Yeoh. The ASEAN-6 comprise Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
Last year, the region produced 45.3 mn t of finished steel, with that of long steel rising by 6.2% on year to top 32.4 mn t while that of flat steel increased 4.6% on year to reach 12.9 mn t, according to Yeoh.
The growth of production occurred mainly thanks to output ramp-ups in Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia and Vietnam, with new flat-product capacities coming on stream in the latter two countries, Yeoh noted.
|
Country |
2018 (mln t) | 2019E (mln t) |
YoY change (%) |
| Indonesia | 10 | 10.9 | 8.8% |
| Malaysia | 3.8 | 5.6 | 46.3% |
| Philippines | 4.9 | 5.1 | 5.4% |
| Singapore | 0.6 | 0.5 | -6.5% |
| Thailand | 9 | 7.8 | -14.1 |
| Vietnam | 14.5 | 15.4 | 6.0% |
Source: SEAISI Statistics
Increase in flat steel output was mainly to satisfy the region’s growing need for such steel items whereas the gain in long steel products was partly to serve export markets, Yeoh acknowledged.
In 2019, exports of long steel among the ASEAN-6 surged by 35.2% to 5.7 mn t, 80% of which were bars, wire rods and sections. In contrast, the export of flat steel increased by a comparatively mild 7.4% to 9.8 mn t, with hot-rolled coil and coated sheet dominating, accounting for 27% and 25% of the flats total respectively.
Last year, the total steel exports of the six reached 15.5 mn t, up 16.2% on year, with the major destinations being neighbouring ASEAN countries, mainland China, Myanmar and Taiwan, according to Yeoh.
In 2019, the ASEAN-6 imported a total of 51.2 mn t of steel, up 1.3% on year, with 12.5 mn t being long steel and the remaining 38.7 mn t being flat steel. Indonesia and Vietnam were the largest importers while the major suppliers were from China, Japan, South Korea and within ASEAN, Yeoh shared.
This article has been published under an article exchange agreement between Mysteel Global and SteelMint.
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