According to Southeast Asia Iron and Steel Institute secretary general Yeoh Wee Jin flat steel consumption posted steady growth in ASEAN countries in 2019 with all major indicators of production, imports and exports growing. At the same time, demand for longs in the market was lower and regional mills were redirecting more volumes to exports. Flat steel consumption in the ASEAN-6 countries Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore added 3.2 percent year on year to 41.823 million tonnes in 2019. Imports increased by 3.7 percent or by around 1.4 million tonnes year on year to 38.733 million tonnes.

In the longs segment, demand in ASEAN fell by 0.8 percent year on year to 39.181 million tonnes in 2019, leading to a drop of 5.4 percent in long steel imports. But at the same time, production of longs improved by 6.2 percent year on year to 32.355 million tonnes. The decline in demand was mainly due to a slowdown in construction in major countries, while higher export volumes supported production. ASEAN producers exported 5.673 million tonnes of longs in 2019, up by 35.2 percent from 2018. A major share of sales (41 percent) was within the region, but 12 percent of all exports went to Myanmar, with 18 percent going to China.

Total steel consumption in the region increased by 1.2 percent year to 81 million tonnes in 2019