Thailand Billet Imports Decline 10% in September

Billet imports to the Thailand reported a decline of 10.50% M-o-M in Sep'18 after hitting 20 months high in Aug'18, the trade statistics released by the custom reported.

In the month of Sep’18, the nation has imported around 269,668 MT billet against 301,322 MT in Aug’18. Prior to this, billet import by the nation gain by 119% M-o-M in Aug'18 against 137,636 MT in Jul’18.

Japan was the major billet exporter to Thailand in Sep’18, which exported around 78,920 MT (29%), followed by Iran & Russia whose exports stood at 57,580 MT & 33,470 MT, respectively.

On yearly basis, in Sep’18 imports registered a rise of 50% against 181,064 MT in Sep’17.

While the nation has imported about 1,824,391 MT Billet in Jan-Sep’18 against 1,501,283 MT in Jan-Sep’17, incline by 21.52% on yearly premises.During this period (Jan-Sept’18), Iran has exported approximately 50% billet (912,790 MT) to the nation, followed by Japan (445,509 MT) & India (101,626 MT).

In the month of June 2018, the crude steel production of Thailand was around 400,000 MT and in CY18 (Jan-Sep) it was approximately 3,469,320 MT. Meanwhile, in CY17 the figure of crude steel production stood at 4,225,000 MT, & 3,879,246 MT in CY16.

Pig iron Imports decreased

In the month of September 2018, Pig iron imports to the nation decreased sharply & stood at 7,082 MT. In the month Malaysia topped the list with 5,499 MT of pig iron exports to Thailand, while no major imports seen from Russia & India.

In CY18 (Jan-Sep) - Russia, India & Malaysia was the major pig iron exporter to Thailand which exported about 162,926 MT (56.23%), 88,245 MT (30.46%) & 24,947 MT (8.61%), respectively.

In context to export prices, global offers for steel grade pig Iron are assessed at USD 375-385/MT FoB India, USD 360-370/MT FoB Black Sea & USD 350-360/MT FOB Brazil.