ASEAN Countries likely to Remain Net Importer of Steel

6-ASEAN are likely to remain net steel importers despite fastest growth in demand due to the presence of environmental pressure which is making capacity additions quite difficult, said delegates present in annual general assembly of WSA (World Steel Association).

6-ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) countries (which includes Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia and Singapore) are likely to remain net steel importers despite fastest growth in demand due to the presence of environmental pressure which is making capacity additions quite difficult, said delegates present in annual general assembly of WSA (World Steel Association).

Despite recent investments in setting up blast furnaces in Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia, “owning capacity by ourselves will be very risky” due to the large investment needed and “a lot of environmental pressure,” said Wikrom Vajragupta, chairman of the trade promotion and relations committee of the ASEAN Iron & Steel Council and the Southeast Asia Iron and Steel Institute on a panel at the annual general assembly of the WSA.

The top official from NatSteel Holdings in Thailand, a unit of Tata Steel said that whether new meltshop capacity in the region takes the form of the basic oxygen furnace or the electric arc furnace was a “dilemma between long- and short-term” considerations. He also added that managing carbon emissions was a longer-term concern, whereas setting up BOFs would yield greater economies of scale.

Steel demand in the ASEAN-6 nations is expected to double to 145 MnT by 2030, according to WSA’s official. Given the 73.8 MnT of steel consumed by the six countries in 2017, they made up one of the largest net importing regions at 50 MnT. Construction, especially of infrastructure and housing, was the main sector identified as accounting for growth in most of the region, with auto demand another sector.

source: SteelMint