Tel :
Tel :
The insufficient follow-up of domestic crude steel SA841 Grade E steel production and the increase in downstream processing demand have driven the rapid growth of semi-finished product imports. The overall import volume of semi-finished products in the first quarter reached 637000 tons, a year-on-year increase of 64.7%, making it the variety with the most significant import growth. In addition, the import volume of bar and section steel has steadily increased due to infrastructure projects, and has been in an upward trend since the beginning of the year. Cold rolled sheet metal also achieved growth supported by the recovery of automobile manufacturing, reaching an increase of 13.8%. The imports of coated steel and steel pipes maintained a slight growth rate, increasing by 3.8% and 2.7% respectively. In contrast, imports of wire and hot-rolled sheet are at a disadvantage, with imports decreasing by 26.2% and 7.3% respectively.
From the perspective of import sources, in the first quarter, China, Japan, and South Korea continued to occupy the main supplier positions for Thailand's imports, with China leading in the share of semi-finished products, steel sections, and other fields; Japan and South Korea maintain advantages in hot-rolled plates and some high-end plates. At the same time, the import sources of some varieties are diversified. The import share of emerging suppliers such as Oman and Egypt has increased, while the imports of square billet and cold-rolled stainless steel plate have been diverted compared with last year, and some of them have turned to the South Korean and Taiwan, China markets.
Looking ahead to the future, China's SA841 Grade E steel position as the largest source of steel imports for Thailand will continue in the short term, and this trade pattern will continue to support China's export base to Thailand. From the demand side, the promotion of Thailand's 4.0 industrial plan and the accelerated layout of the electric vehicle industry chain, especially driven by investment from Chinese and Japanese car companies, are expected to drive structural growth in demand for high-end steel. However, the high household debt and non-performing loan ratio in Thailand have to some extent suppressed the ability of end consumers and suppressed the demand for steel.
In the short term, the game pattern of mixed long and short factors may continue: on the one hand, the trade diversion effect caused by the US tariffs and the policy impact of China's stricter export supervision will gradually emerge, and Thailand's import structure may experience marginal adjustments in the second quarter; On the other hand, given the significant gap in Thailand's domestic steel production capacity (with a capacity utilization rate of only 29% in 24 years), China's steel exports still have a strong competitive advantage. Export enterprises can focus on optimizing the export proportion of high value-added products such as high-end sheet metal and electrical steel, while SA841 Grade E steel paying attention to changes in trade flow in the ASEAN region.
