Steel producers in Thailand increased imports of semi-finished products this year as it was more efficient to purchase cheaper semis rather than rely on own semi-finished production.
Overall imports of semis to Thailand was 3.77 million mt in January-November, while over the whole 2018 year, the figure was just 3.2 million mt, SteelOrbis learned from market sources reports, based on customs statistics. The largest supplier with the share of 26 percent was Russia –978,000 mt. Although ex-Iran supply declined over this year and totalled just 420,000 mt over the first eleven months of this year against about 1.5 million mt in 2018, Thai customers were still interested in buying of cheaper semis from Iran trying to save costs in unfavourable market conditions. Shipments of semis from Oman amounted to 609,000 mt, and the large part of it was Iranian origin material, sources said. Japan was in top-3 semis suppliers for Thailand with 617,000 mt shipped in January-November.
Billet imports to Thailand amounted to 1.3 million mt with Russia accounted for 34 percent.
Thailand’s steel consumption was 2.7 percent down to 9.3 million mt in the first half of 2019, according to SEAISI. But some improvement is expected next year.