Posted on 21 Jun 2021
Among the 25 million tonnes of steel exported by the ASEAN-6 countries in 2020, 47% were believed to have shipped to China, making it the top receiver, Yeoh Wee Jin, secretary general of South East Asia Iron and Steel Institute (SEAISI) shared at the SEAISI 50th Anniversary e-Conference & Exhibition on June 17.
The 25 million tonnes of exported steel included iron products, semi-finished and finished steel as well as ferroalloys, among which, semi-finished steel was ranked the top at 24%, bars and wire rods the second largest both at 15% of the total. And as for China, the top three were also the top three it imported from the ASEAN-6, with semis accounting for 17%, bars 12%, and wire rod 6% respectively of ASEAN’s total 25 million tonnes, he shared.
One of the contributors to the high proportion to China was that many China-invested steel mills in these ASEAN countries shipped their products back home, he elaborated, adding that among the ASEAN-6 include Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam, and for last year, Malaysia was the top steel exporter with 10.1 million tonnes mainly being longs and semis because of the capacity expansion.
In Malaysia, China-invested 3.5 million tonnes/year Alliance Steel with semis, bars, wire rods and H-beam as major products, has been consistently shipping steel back to China for profits since its full commissioning in June 2019, as reported.
In 2020, Indonesia was ranked the second largest steel exporter with 8.4 million tonnes also due to the capacity expansion though the core products were plates and stainless steel.
Despite that “all recent (steel) investments needed to export”, major investors in the steel projects with many being Chinese companies, are still planning to expand capacities, Yeoh pointed out, warning that the undersupply of certain steel products is filled up fast, and any new investments are advised to conduct more detailed feasibility studies.
In 2020, the ASEAN-6 were 96% self-sufficient in longs, though they still heavily relied on imports for flats with coated sheets in particular, Yeoh said.
Among the ongoing expansions are Alliance Steel’s target to expand to 6.5 million t/y, and Dexin Steel, a China-invested steelworks in Indonesia that intends to expand its steelmaking capacity from the 3.5 million t/y at present to 6 million t/y by 2022 and 20 million t/y by 2026-2027, Yeoh shared.
In 2020, the ASEAN-6 imported 41.9 million tonnes of finished steel, down 18.2% on year, as their steel demand was largely dampened and logistic constraints caused by the COVID-19 outbreak, he shared.
Source:Mysteel Global
