Source: SEAISI
The annual SEAISI Conference and Exhibition was held at The Bali International Convention Centre from May 14-16. The event was hailed as one of the most successful ever, with more than 300 delegates and 20 exhibitors. In all, about 70 papers were presented with speakers coming from more than 15 countries.
The keynote address was delivered by Dr Nae-Hee Han, Chief Economist and General Manager of IISI, Beijing Office. In her presentation, Dr Han discussed the world steel industry prospects in the context of a steadily growing world economy. IISI expects a positive outlook over the next decade with apparent steel use continuing to grow. Much of this is due to the rapidly growing economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China. However, there are numerous challenges facing the world industry. These include avoiding overcapacities, competition for raw materials, the Kyoto Protocol and impact of carbon cost on competitiveness, and China becoming a net exporter.
Other prominent presentations included that from Dr Dan Horovitz, an international expert on free trade and WTO matters. Dr Horovitz outlined some of the issues related to the explosion in the number of bilateral and multilateral FTAs being signed by countries in the region. CRU presented a paper on the impact of margin squeeze on re-rollers in the region and what steps re-rollers could take; and SBB's paper compared the steel industry scenes in China and India.
As in past conferences, the two sessions of Country Reports were well attended as delegates were eager to understand how each of the ten member countries is traveling with their respective economy and steel industry. Following these sessions, there were 12 sessions of technical presentations covering the entire spectrum of steel manufacturing and steel applications.
After the Conference and Exhibition, more than 60 delegates joined in a plant tour of PT Krakatau Steel and BlueScope Steel Indonesia in Cilegon, West Java. Delegates were impressed by the operations of both plants, particularly their housekeeping and cleanliness.
