Supply shortage still a concern in Malaysia

Supply shortage still a concern in Malaysia

By the beginning of April, the government of Malaysia started to take certain precautions to avoid the steel shortage in the country. These precautions included the lifting of import licensing on steel billets and bars, on the back of the rising raw material costs creating a burden for the steel producers in the country. As a further step, the government also allowed the increase of prices of local products in a range of 26.9% to 30.3%. However the market reports still refer to a situation where the supply shortage still continues to stand as a problem, and the lack of long products availability at the government price levels. Following the recent increase by the government, the price of steel billets is in the RM 1'295-1'390/mt ($340-365) range, while price for rebar is in RM 1'530-1'675/mt ($405-440) range. Meanwhile, as a part of extensive measures considered to be put in effect to help domestic steel industry, Malaysian government is currently considering to impose a provisional ban on exports of steel bars by local traders.