China’s steel exports to ASEAN drop 13% in 2019, only coated steel visibly up

Chinese steel exporters lost their market share in the ASEAN region in 2019 due to stronger demand locally and higher competition. As a result, China’s steel exports to ASEAN-6 countries (Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam) fell 13 percent year on year to 18.6 million mt in 2019 with most major products posing declines and hot rolled coils (HRC) shipments dropping by 32 percent, according to the report of the South East Asia Iron and Steel Institute (SEAISI). A visible increase in ex-China steel exports to the ASEAN region was seen only in the coated sheet segment.

In the HRC segment, shipments from China to the ASEAN region fell 32 percent or 1.4 million mt to 3 million mt. Stronger competition with Indian mills in Vietnam, which accounts for more than 60 percent out of China’s exports to the ASEAN region, led to exports of HRC to this country declining by 38 percent year on year to 2 million mt, according to SEAISI, while some increase in sales was seen only in Indonesia and Thailand.

At the same time, China’s coated sheet exports to the ASEAN region posted a sharp increase in the period under review - up 32 percent to 5.78 million mt, according to SteelOrbis’ calculations based on the SEAISI data. Exports to Thailand, the major China’s importer in this segment, added 25 percent year on year to 1.9 million mt, “followed by the export of 1.3 million mt to the Philippines, an increase of 4.6 percent y-o-y in 2019,” according to SEAISI. Shipments to Vietnam were up by two percent to 1.2 million mt and shipments to Indonesia rose by 28 percent to 930,000 mt, year on year.