The Jakarta Post reported that steel products manufacturer PT Saranacentral Bajatama is planning to widen its market to include Southeast Asian countries, such as Malaysia, Myanmar and Thailand to benefit from the low import tariffs established under the ASEAN Free Trade Agreement.
With the market expansion, Mr Handaja Susanto BAJA president director said last week that he expected total exports would account for about 20 percent of the company’s total sales. He said that “We will export our galvanized and Saranalume [aluminum-zinc coated steel] products. We have had talks with several potential buyers as there are many construction projects in our neighboring countries, including in Myanmar.”
As stipulated in the AFTA’s Common Effective Preferential Tariff scheme, all 10 ASEAN member countries Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam have agreed to lower their import tariffs at a range of between zero to 5% beginning January 2010.
The ASEAN market is expected to boost BAJA’s export income to between USD 1 million and USD 2 million this year. During the first nine months of 2012, the firm only exported its products to Pakistan, with export revenues of IDR 7.79 billion (USD 820,000).
This year, BAJA plans to manufacture around 124,394 tonnes of steel products, a 20.7% rise from 2012. Production of aluminum-zinc coated steel or Saranalume will be increased by 55% to 64,394 tons to meet growing domestic and overseas demand, while the production of galvanized goods will stay around 60,000 tonnes.
The increase in production will also be supported by the launch of the company’s new product, colored Saranalume. The firm is currently completing the construction of its color-coating facilities and is looking forward to start offering colored Saranalume next April.
He said that “In the next few years, we will focus our sales domestically. In Indonesia, colored aluminum-zinc steel is mostly used to create colored roof tiles. We hope to sell about 2,500 tons of the product per month.”
