Hot Rolled Plate Demand in Asean Countries Continue to Grow Significantly

According to the report of South East Asia Iron and Steel Institute (SEAISI) that hot rolled plate demand in ASEAN countries - Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Singapore - continued to grow significantly in the last two years. Demand in 2012 alone surged by 27% from 2011 to 4 million tons. The report also shows that the overall regional hot rolled plate production in ASEAN countries fell by 2.3% to 1.3 million tons in 2012 from 2011, indicating that the demand relied mainly by imports in the year with an increase of 2.8% to 3.5 million tons compared to 2011. Most of the demand for hot rolled plate in the countries from the report lies on their construction and shipbuilding sectors. However, Singapore alone shows the only country with declined figures in imports of hot rolled plate from 1,223,501 tons in 2011 to 955,829 tons in 2012, but has a growth of 5.3% to 626,775 tons in 2012 from 2011.