In 2016, the consumption of steel in the five ASEAN countriesincreased, which provided a good support for the domestic steel producers andforeign steel suppliers in ASEAN countries. Under the leadership of Vietnam,the ASEAN region will remain the world's most growth potential steel market.

According to the preliminary data released by the association ofSoutheast Asian steel, as expected, as of 2016, the five ASEAN countries steeldemand continued to grow, an increase of nearly 14%, reaching $74 million. Lastyear, the ASEAN countries steel consumption appears extremely strong growth ismainly due to: Vietnam and Thailand construction activity increased, recoveryof Philippines steel demand in Indonesia and Malaysia, and the steelconsumption is stronger than expected.

At the same time, in addition to Malaysia, other ASEAN fourcountries are steel production to maintain strong growth momentum, mainly dueto the area of many steel capacity expansion projects have been put intooperation, promote local steel producers to enhance competitiveness. Accordingto the Vietnam iron and Steel Association statistics, in 2016 Vietnam steelproduction to achieve strong growth, an increase of up to 16.8%, reaching 17million 500 thousand tons.

It is noteworthy that, in 2016 the growth of steel demand inASEAN countries exceeded all previous agency expectations. In particular, theassociation of Southeast Asian steel is expected last year, the five countriesof the EU steel consumption grew by 8.3%, while the actual increase of nearly14%. Taking into account this positive results, the industry is generallyexpected in 2017 ASEAN steel demand will be at least an increase of 6%-8%, ofwhich the highest increase in Vietnam, at least 10%.