Myanmar has removed products made of iron, steel and stainless steel from its list of imports requiring a licence. The country has seen only a modest increase in steel imports in the last year but is expected to see steel demand grow steadily, Kallanish notes.

267 products have been removed from the list of 4,405 products requiring a licence released previously. Myanmar is hoping to remove a further 500 or more products from the list by the end of the year as it hopes that freer trade will provide a further boost to the local economy.

Myanmar has seen growing investment in the local steel sector, and liberalisation is likely to benefit new processing plants in the country. Korea’s Posco, Japan’s JFE Steel and Thailand’s Bangkok Sheet Metal and Millcon Steel all have recently commissioned processing or fabrication plants in the south east Asian nation.

It may be less good news for its expanding steelmaking capacity however, considering the competition that will be faced from imports. China exported 1.18 million tonnes of steel to Myanmar in the first half of 2016, up just 1% year-on-year. This is however more than it exported to the USA, Canada and Mexico combined.