Hot rolled steel sheet supply problem forced to be solved in Thailand
According to the latest industry reports, the dispute between the Japanese led cold rolling mills in
Thailand and Thai hot rolled steel producer Sahaviriya Steel Industry (SSI) is forced to be solved with the pressure from the Thai government.
The Foreign Trade Department has now told the parties to go on with their discussions until they find a way to make it possible for the domestic hot rolled supply to become sufficient for these cold rolling mills' requirements.
Thailand implemented anti-dumping duties on hot rolled steel imports to which particularly the Japanese led cold rolling mills such as Siam United Steel (SUS) and Thai Cold Rolled Steel (TCR) have reacted strongly. SSI is claimed to be not efficient to produce the quality that these cold rolling mills require and the dispute has been ongoing for a couple of weeks.
The downstream manufacturers that are automobile and home appliances manufacturers, state that they consider to import the cold rolled steel themselves as they are worried that the domestic supply shortage might lead to price hikes soon.