The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) says it still hopes to be essentially tariff-free by 2018 and is also currently targeting non-tariff barriers. In the steel sector however, debate is still intense as much of the industry is asking for protection, Kallanish notes.

The Asean Business Advisory Council perhaps sensibly left steel off its list of key sectors to remove non-tariff barriers, focussing on agriculture, healthcare, logistics and retail. With both imports from China and intra-Asean steel trade impacting many local steelmakers, trade duties and non-tariff barriers have been increasing steadily over the last two years.

Administrative measures, such as Indonesia’s requirement for parties trading boron-added steel to be registered, have often impacted firms trading steel within Asean. As one of the fastest growing regions for steel demand, flows through the region are increasingly important to the global industry.

Vietnam has perhaps the most to gain from free steel trade within Asean. With its own integrated HRC capacity now coming online and the recent massive increase in imports from China, the country has turned re-rolling and coating flat steel products into a rapidly-growing and highly-profitable sector.