Steel producer PT Krakatau Steel has said local steel producers were seriously affected by an uncontrollable inflow of steel from other countries, particularly after the government issued a new regulation on steel imports.

PT Krakatau Steel commissioner Roy Makingkas said in Jakarta on recently that Trade Minister Regulation No. 22/2018 on iron and steel imports did not take the side of local steel producers, although the government wanted to improve productivity and competitiveness of the national industries.

He said previous Trade Minister Regulation No. 82/2016 was much in favor of the national steel industry.

“What is the objective of the government in issuing Trade Minister Regulation No. 22/2018, while Regulation No. 82 is already good for the national steel industry?” Roy said as reported by kontan.com.

He explained that the relaxation to smoothen the import of raw materials to support local manufacturing industries could not be applied to steel because it was a specific product that was not produced on a massive scale.

The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) had recorded 5.5 million tons of imported steel from last year up to April. The import reached 2 million tons up to April this year.

Roy said the increase in steel imports did not only occur in upstream products like hot-rolled coil/plates, cold-rolled coil and wire rods, it also occurred in downstream products like coated sheets. (bbn)