Posted on 14 Sep 2021
The Philippines saw steel import volumes continue to tick higher in summer. Vietnam is displacing Russia as the key supplier of semis as mills there look to grow their export markets, Kallanish notes.
According to Philippine customs data, steel imports reached 650,724 tonnes in July, rising 3% from June and 22% from July 2020. Over the opening seven months imports totalled 4.577 million tonnes, up 20% from July 2020.
Semis were the most imported product into the Philippines in July, with intake at 287,447t, a 23% m-o-m rise and 99% y-o-y increase. Year-to-date semis imports reached 1.517mt, up 3% y-o-y.
The Philippines imported 23,042t of semis from Russia in July, down 78% m-o-m and 50% y-o-y. Seven-month imports of Russian semis were 603,940t, a rise of 13% y-o-y.
In July it also sourced 111,676t of Vietnamese semis, climbing 878% m-o-m but unchanged y-o-y. Across the first seven months of the year, imports of Vietnamese semis totalled 317,434t, up 57% y-o-y. Vietnamese mills have been relying on export markets since Covid-19 restrictions have flattened domestic demand.
Philippine flat products imports were meanwhile 221,040t in July, a m-o-m dip of 13% and a y-o-y decline of 3%. However, seven-month intake was up 38% on-year, totalling 1.719mt.
China was a key supplier of carbon and alloy steel hot rolled coil in July, with 18,793t. This represents a m-o-m decrease of 33% and down 24% y-o-y. Over the year to July, imports of Chinese HRC gained 32% y-o-y to 233,211t.
The Philippines imported 104,692t of longs, a m-o-m decline of 29% and a y-o-y decline of 18%. However, total longs imports were up 18% over the seven months at 1.062mt.
Philippine pipe imports were 37,545t, a 7% m-o-m dip, but a 4% y-o-y increase, and seven-month imports were up 39% to 279,954t.
The Philippines imported 327,202t of East Asian steel in July, a dip of 15% m-o-m and 19% y-o-y. It imported a combined 2.835mt of steel from East Asia over the seven months of 2021, up 26% y-o-y.
Imports from Southeast Asia rose 50% from the previous month and 243% y-o-y to 208,380t. Through January-July this was up 46% y-o-y to 873,181t.
Source:Kallanish
