Posted on 09 Aug 2024
According to SEAISI’s advanced estimates in e-booklet (provided in advance upon Statistical Yearbook), total long steel import in ASEAN-6 countries registered 11.8 million tonnes, an increase of 10.4% y-o-y in 2023. Export jumped 16.5% y-o-y to 9.4 million tonnes in same period.
Indonesia’s long steel import rose 11.4% to 1.8 million tonnes in 2023. Import of section rose 5.5% y-o-y to 335k tonnes. Bar import surged moderately, at 3.2% to 490k tonnes. Wire rod import increased 6% y-o-y to 465k tonnes. These are to support growing construction sector, especially the government’s mega projects. Import of rails & accessories jumped from 23k tonnes in 2022 to 41k tonnes in 2023. This is to support new train rail construction from Jakarta to Semarang and Bandung as well as from Makassar to Parepare.
Export increased 200k tonnes to 1.07 million tonnes in the same period. Section export increased 24% to 15k tonnes. Major destinations were Malaysia and Singapore.
Export of bar continued to increase to 113k tonnes, an increase of 54% y-o-y in 2023. Major destimations (more than 70%) was to Australia, followed by Thailand and East Timor.
Wire rod export rose 22% to 848k tonnes. Indonesia exports wire rod to many countries. The surge in wire rod export was mainly due to sizeable capacities that emerged in 2023. Major destinations include Malaysia, Thailand, Taiwan, Belgium, Netherlands, Australia and Singapore.
Malaysia’s long steel import rose 22.5% to 1.8 million tonnes in 2023. Import of section increased 8.5% y-o-y to 708k tonnes. Bar import rose 9% to 180k tonnes. Wire rod import continued to increase and the volume of 664k tonnes in 2023 was the increase of 38% y-o-y.
Long steel export continued to increase and the figure in 2023 rose 44% y-o-y to 5 million tonnes. Section export rose 17% to 80k tonnes. The largest market for Malaysia’s section was Singapore, which is mainly for the construction sector.
Bar export continued to increase in 2023. The figure increased 1.2 million in 2023 to 2.9 million tonnes. 62% of the export was to Hong Kong (China), followed by the export to Singapore and Myanmar.
Wire rod export picked up after a slowdown in 2021 and 2022 to remain as high as 1.9 million tonnes in 2023, owing to overcapacity in the long products sector. Malaysia exports wire rod to various countries, including Turkey, Belgium, Thailand, Netherlands, Mexico and Spain.
Philippines is the only country in the region that does not export. Long steel import in Philippines declined slightly, by 1.8% to 2 million tonnes. This is inline with a slowdown in construction activities in the country. Section import contacted 2.7% to 888k tonnes. Bar import dropped 37% to 28k tonnes. Meanwhile, wire rod import declined from 669k tonnes in 2022 to 603k tonnes in 2023.
Singapore’s steel usage for construction recovered significantly due to the backlog activities. Therefore, long steel import jumped 34% to 2.6 million tonnes in 2023.
In details, section import rose 8.2% to 396k tonnes in 2023. Bar import jumped from 883k tonnes in 2022 to 1.4 million tonnes in 2023, an increase of nearly 600k tonnes. Wire rod import, on the other hand, dropped by more than half to 182k tonnes in 2023.
Long steel export slowed down by 1.8% y-o-y to 578k tonnes in 2023. Section export dropped 8.4% to 204k tonnes. Major destinations were Indonesia and Malaysia.
Export of bar surged slightly, by 4.3% to 147k tonnes. Major destinations were Australia, Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei Darussalam.
Wire rod export continued to decline 2% y-o-y to 83k tonnes. Two major markets for Singapore’s wire rod were Australia and Malaysia.
Thailand’s import of long steel increased 8.7% to 2.3 million tonnes in 2023. Section import was not significant, but the volume jumped 44% to 75k tonnes. Bar import is mostly merchant bar or bar for manufacturing usage. The volume increased 6.7% to 654k tonnes. Wire rod import increased by nearly 200k tonnes to 1.3 million tonnes in 2023.
Long steel export in Thailand continued to increase at 4.8% y-o-y to 902k tonnes. Export of section (mostly heavy section) declined significantly, by 26% y-o-y to 288k tonnes. Half of Thailand’s section export was to Malaysia, followed by Singapore, Philippines, New Zealand and Australia.
Bar export increased slightly to 259k tonnes. Myanmar became the largest export destination for Thailand’s bar. The volume doubled to 101k tonnes in 2023.
Thailand did not export much of wire rod and the volume dropped by nearly half to 27k tonnes. Major market for Thailand’s wire rod was ASEAN countries.
Vietnam’s long steel import dipped 4.9% y-o-y to 1.3 million tonnes in 2023. Import of section and wire rod rose significantly, by 34% y-o-y to 165k tonnes and 30% to 680k tonnes, respectively in 2023. On the other hand, bar import declined by nearly half to 269k tonnes in the same year. Major source of long steel to Vietnam was China, where the market has been week in recent years and steel producers resorting to export. The increase in import of section and wire rod reflected the recovery in construction activities in the country, especially construction of manufacturing warehouses, especially growing demand for large warehouses.
Export of long steel shrank more than 400k tonnes to 1.8 million tonnes. Export of section dropped 8% y-o-y to 226k tonnes. Bar export contacted by 200k tonnes to 820k tonnes. The large bulk of the decline was the export to Hong Kong, from 450k tonnes to 63k tonnes in 2023. However, export to Singapore increased from around 50k tonnes to 200k tonnes.
Construction activities in some countries in ASEAN have recovered, showing signs for growing net import. Singapore’s long steel import posted the highest growth rate to serve the backlog in construction activities.
In the meantime, ASEAN’s long steel capacity production allows some countries, especially Indonesia and Malaysia to export a bulk of long steel to China and ASEAN countries.
Source:SEAISI
