The sharp drop in steel consumption in Singapore in the January-June period of 2019 led to much lower imports, especially in the long steel segment. As a result, in the first half of the year, total longs steel shipments from abroad, mainly rebar, came to just 844,752 mt, sharp 27 percent drop from about 1.2 million mt in the same period last year, according to the latest report of the South East Asia Iron and Steel Institute (SEAISI). Chinese rebar suppliers’ share narrowed further, while exporters from the Middle East and CIS grabbed higher market shares.
Total steel consumption in Singapore declined by 16 percent to 1.2 million mt in the January-June period this year. “This was partly due to the destocking activity due to the merger between two large steel fabricators in the market,” SEAISI stated. As a result, steel production was also affected, declining by 11 percent to below 300,000 mt.
Nevertheless, in the first half of the year, total imports of steel went down by just 4.4 percent to 1.8 million mt, as the sharp drop in longs shipments was partly offset by higher flat steel imports, which rose by 34.3 percent year on year to 930,158 mt.