Posted on 01 Dec 2021
Thailand has seen imports boosted by semi-finished steel and Japanese automotive steel. Exports however have fallen, especially for semis, Kallanish notes.
Thai steel imports were 1.233 million tonnes in October, up 16% from September and 7% year-on-year. This has been driven in part by stronger automotive sheet shipments but also by higher intake of construction and infrastructure products and semis to produce these domestically. Imports over January-October were up 21% to 13.504mt.
The main product group imported by Thailand in October was flats, which increased 9% m-o-m and 27% y-o-y to 819,064t. Flats imports totalled 8.226mt over ten months, up 29% y-o-y.
Of this total, Thai imports of carbon and alloy hot rolled coil from Japan reached 310,947t, rising 13% m-o-m and 104% y-o-y. Meanwhile, through January-October, carbon and alloy HRC imports from Japan jumped 112% y-o-y to 2.783mt.
In October, Thailand also imported 73,700t of Japanese carbon and alloy cold rolled coil, an increase of 3% on-month, and 55% on-year, while during the ten months it sourced 640,234t, up 72%.
Thai semis imports increased 229% m-o-m but fell 17% from October 2020 to 227,475t. Ten-month semis imports were up 12% to 2.834mt. Thailand also imported 139,735t of longs, dipping 23% m-o-m and 25% y-o-y. However, through January-October total longs imports were 2.027mt, up 15%.
Thailand's exports in October meanwhile were 177,906t, down 10% m-o-m, but still up 46% y-o-y. Over January-October, combined exports were 1.756mt, up 71% y-o-y.
Exports of semis have slumped across all destinations. Thailand saw semis exports of 54,289t in October, down 31% on-month but up 384% on-year. Over the first ten months semis exports reached 562,988t, up 405% y-o-y.
Thailand exported 28,854t of carbon and alloy semis to China in October, a decrease of 19% m-o-m and steady from October last year. Over January-October this totalled 329,389t, a y-o-y surge of 1,036%.
Meanwhile, carbon and alloy semis exports to Taiwan in October slumped to zero, after totalling 73,822t between January-October, up 2,554% y-o-y. 5,974t of carbon and alloy semis went to the Philippines in October, down 80% m-o-m and 37% y-o-y. Shipments there over ten months were 108,293t, up 120% y-o-y.
Source:Kallanish
