Posted on 04 Jun 2015
The government has upgraded steel products to the sensitive list from the priority watch list.
This means the products are subject to daily price monitoring, a move that will curb local manufacturers from unfairly raising their prices.
Boonyarit Kalayanamit, director–general of the Internal Trade Department, said the government feared its anti-dumping and safeguard measures against imported steel products the past few years to protect local manufacturers could result in a sharp rise in product prices at home.
The measures led to higher tariffs for imported steel products, pushing leading steel product manufacturers to use more locally made products.
The Commerce Ministry now has 205 products under its supervision, with 27 on the sensitive list, consisting of mainly food, energy and consumer products.
Under sensitive list rules, local steel manufacturers, traders and distributors are required to inform the government of the daily prices for all types of steel products, including steel bar, structural steel and hot and cold-rolled steel. The priority watch list only requires price updates twice weekly.
The Commerce Ministry has not set any recommended prices, meaning the market still dictates prices. But Mr
Boonyarit insisted authorities are set to investigate and take legal action if prices are unfairly raised.
Thailand is estimated to use 18 million tonnes of steel products this year, mainly for cars, electricity and construction, up from 17 million last year. The country can produce only 8-10 million tonnes, so it relies on imports averaging 12.5 million tonnes from Japan, China and South Korea.
The government has insisted this year it is maintaining its anti-dumping duties on steel imports to protect domestic producers complaining of being hurt by a flood of cheap imports.
Several Thai steelmakers remain in the red, suffering from high production costs and an avalanche of cheap imported steel.
Under the country's anti-dumping measures, imported steel, mainly hot- and cold-rolled steel, structural steel and stainless cold-rolled steel, is subject to tariffs of 20-30%.
