The Thai unit of India's largest steelmaker on Wednesday said it did not expect sales to grow in 2014 as Thailand's domestic demand had not recovered enough to boost growth for the whole year.
Tata SteelBSE -0.11 % (Thailand) Pcl expected 2014 sales volume to be close to last year's 1.3 million tonnes and would focus more on exports to Southeast Asian countries to help offset weakness at home, President and CEO Rajiv Mangal told reporters.
In the first half of this year, Thailand's overall steel consumption dropped 15 percent from a year earlier as month-long political unrest delayed construction activity. The country consumed 17.7 million tonnes of steel products in 2013.
Domestic demand for long steel, Tata's main product used in the construction sector, fell 12 percent in the first half, Mangal said adding demand has picked up in the second half, but is not enough to compensate for the decline in the first.
While overall demand for steel is not expected to rise this year, Mangal said it should take six to nine months to see actual demand from the military government's plan to spend $75 billion on transport infrastructure projects by 2020.
Hit by oversupply both at home and in international markets, Thai steelmakers also face dumping from Chinese firms, which should continue to put pressure on domestic prices.
Thai steelmakers have also asked the commerce ministry to implement anti-dumping measures to tax imported low carbon steel rod for Chinese makers, Mangal said.
The ministry imposed an anti-dumping tax on imported high carbon steel rod in May, but the tax rate is not high enough to help reduce the impact, he added.
Source: ET
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