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Today's Headlines Steel Industry
Competitiveness in Indonesia's steel manufacturing industry can be strengthened if Indonesian steelmakers, especially the smaller ones, decide to engage in mergers and acquisitions (M&As). Mas Wigrantoro Roes Setiyadi, General Chairman of the Indonesian Iron and Steel Industry Association (IISIA), advises Indonesia's smaller steel producers to embrace M&A to make their business more economically and efficiently.
Indonesian steel manufacturers urge the government to curb the dumping of steel by foreign traders in Indonesia. Hidayat Triseputro, Executive Director of the Indonesian Iron and Steel Industry Association (IISIA), says the key problem is the free trade zone in Batam (located close to Singapore) where steel can be imported duty-free.
The Indonesian Iron & Steel Industry Association (IISIA) says Indonesia is in big need of investment in the steel industry in order to expand the nation's steel production capacity. In the years ahead, steel demand is expected to rise strongly in Indonesia on the back of construction and infrastructure projects. Without investment, Indonesia will become increasingly dependent on steel imports.
Steel manufacturers are concerned that the recent surge in steel prices may disrupt domestic infrastructure development projects. Purwono Widodo, Director International Relations at the Indonesian Iron & Steel Industry Association (IISIA), said the price of steel - particularly hot rolled coil - has continued to increase, especially in the last two months.
Indonesian steel manufacturers urge the Indonesian government to improve the monitoring of steel trade as rising steel imports undermine the performance of domestic steel producers. Hidayat Triseputro, Executive Director of the Indonesian Iron and Steel Industry Association (IISIA), said domestic steel production capacity is indeed not enough to meet domestic steel demand. However, importers are currently taking advantage of the import policies, and this comes at the expense of expansion of the domestic steel industry.
An Indonesian delegation collected more than USD $1.6 billion worth of investment commitments in a follow-up meeting after the Belt and Road summit in Beijing (held on 14-15 May 2017). These investment commitments come from two Chinese companies - Delong Steel Ltd and Tsing San Group - that are set to build a carbon steel factory in the industrial zone of Morowali (Central Sulawesi). Both firms team up with Indonesian company Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park for the development of the factory.
The Indonesian government targets to see domestic steel production rise by 5 percent year-on-year (y/y) in 2017. Strategies to encourage Indonesia's steel output include tighter supervision on steel imports and offering energy price incentives to domestic producers (in an effort to boost the competitiveness of Indonesian steel).
The price of hot rolled coil (HRC) steel in Indonesia jumped 20 percent to USD $600 per ton in the first quarter of 2017, from USD $500 per ton in the same quarter one year earlier. This price growth is encouraged by the rising global steel price, a trend that is expected to continue in the remainder of 2017. Based on data from MEsteel, a Middle East b2b steel portal, the price of the benchmark HRC stood at USD $545 per ton in March 2017, up 49 percent from USD $365 per ton in the same month one year ago.
Sales of steel in Indonesia are expected to grow 7 percent year-on-year (y/y) to 15 million tons in 2017, from an estimated 14 million tons of steel sales this year. This growth is attributed to rising infrastructure development in Indonesia and the lower gas price (which is expected to be a reason for the nation's steel manufacturers to boost output). Purwono Widodo, Director for International Relations of the Indonesian Iron and Steel Association (IISIA), said steel sales in Indonesia fell in 2015 but rebounded in 2016.
Steel consumption in Indonesia is expected to rise to 13-14 million tons in 2016, from 11.3 million tons in the preceding year. Growth is supported by infrastructure development in Indonesia. Data from the Southeast Asia Iron and Steel Institute (SEAISI) shows that steel consumption in Indonesia rose 11 percent year-on-year (y/y) to 6.4 million tons in the first half of 2016. In fact, many local companies are currently buying steel to fill their warehouses as the steel price tends to be highest in the January-February period.
Latest Columns Steel Industry
Steel pipe and tube manufacturer Steel Pipe Industry of Indonesia (Spindo), which has the largest steel pipe production capacity among manufacturers in Indonesia, is expected to show solid corporate earnings in the period ahead as the company bought raw materials for its production process when the hot-rolled coil (HRC) price was near its lowest at USD $265 per ton. Investa Saran Mandiri expects that Spindo's earnings will improve markedly starting from the second quarter of 2016 as the HRC price has risen to USD $485 per ton in May 2016.
The price of steel has surged 20 percent to USD $365 per ton in April 2016 from USD $305 per ton at the start of the year. The primary reason for the higher steel price is China's plan to curtail the country's installed steel production capacity by a further 150 million tons over the next five years. In recent years the steel price has dropped significantly due to the global oversupply, mainly originating from the chronic steel oversupply in China where domestic demand declined amid the nation's economic slowdown.
At the start of 2014 Indonesia introduced its long-planned export ban on raw mineral ores in a bid to strengthen the domestic economy by reducing its dependence on raw commodity exports and instead forcing miners to process their raw ores domestically before exporting is allowed. Being an important global supplier of certain ores, this new Indonesian rule (stipulated by Law No.4/2009 on Coal and Mineral Mining) has a considerable impact on global markets and prices, one of which being nickel.
