Indonesia's growing presence in the international market as a stainless steel exporter - made possible by an influx of Chinese-backed producers in the country - presents a potential challenge to China's dominance of the Asian markets, participants told Metal Bulletin.
Playing a key role in the market and squeezing China's market share currently is PT Indonesia Tsingshan Stainless Steel, a low-cost integrated complex opened by Chinese stainless steel giant Tsingshan Holding Group in 2016.Tsingshan Indonesia will also be joined soon by a slew of upcoming stainless mills in the Southeast Asian country - part of a larger trend of Chinese steelmakers expanding overseas. India's Jindal Stainless also has a mill in Indonesia producing more than 10,000 tonnes of cold-rolled products every month.Likely contenderSellers of stainless steel, especially those in China and Taiwan, are worried about the impact of Indonesia's asking prices, which have been consistently lower than the rest of Asia."Everyone is watching Tsingshan Indonesia now because it was a game changer to the market," a processor source in east China said. In late June, Tsingshan commissioned the final phase of its project in Morowali Industrial Park, in Indonesia's Central...