SteelAsia sees housing, infra boosting steel demand
SteelAsia Manufacturing Corp., the country’s flagship steel firm, is expecting steel demand to grow by almost 10 percent this year. This is expected to be driven by the acceleration of housing and infrastructure projects.
Rafael Hidalgo, chief operating officer of SteelAsia, said demand for reinforcement bar (rebar) is estimated at 4.1 million tons in 2024. That meant an increase of 8 to 9 percent from a year ago.
“This year, maybe the worst is over. It will (demand) rise again. We have not yet recovered from prepandemic levels of steel demand. Perhaps this year, this is the start (of the recovery),” Hidalgo said in an interview.
Infrastructure projects are among the main drivers of this year’s projected growth, according to the COO.
“But I think the property developers will be back up,” Hidalgo told reporters. He added that rebar demand is projected to normalize after years of slowdown, especially since the pandemic.
Even then, Hidalgo said the country’s consumption is relatively low compared to neighboring countries.
“Our steel consumption is still very low, meaning we’re not building what should be built for the size of our population and for the kind of population that we have,” he added.
Citing the company’s data, Hidalgo said that rebar demand peaked at 4.4 million tons as recorded in 2019, a year before the coronavirus pandemic hit.
Hidalgo said rebar consumption growth remained flat between 2022 and 2024, after it had plunged by 30 to 40 percent in 2020.
SteelAsia is among the world’s largest rebar manufacturers with an annual production capacity of over 2.5 million metric tons.
