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Imports reached 84,607 tonnes last year, compared with 84,762 tonnes in 2013, Pelat Timah Nusantara (Latinusa), Indonesia’s sole tinplate producer, said in a market presentation recently filed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX).
The country’s tinplate consumption dropped to 225,638 tonnes in 2014 from 230,091 tonnes the year before, which meant the market share of imported material edged up to 37.5% from 36.8%, according to the presentation.
Latinusa’s market share slid to 62.5% from 63.1% as a consequence, the figures showed.
AD duties In its 2014 annual report filed early in the month on IDX, Latinusa said that the anti-dumping duties were applied at “a range lower than market expectations” which “did not seem to provide a significant [positive] impact” for the company.
Duties were applied in February last year for five years, ranging from 4.4% to 7.9%.
The continuing “onslaught” of tinplate imports in Indonesia, in Latinusa’s words, affected both its sales shipments and prices last year.
Shipments decreased to 141,031 tonnes last year from 145,329 tonnes in 2013, while sales revenues moved down to $162.9 million from $172.4 million.
The company also suffered an operating loss of $4.4 million in 2014, down from an operating profit of $3.08 million in 2013. Net loss for the whole of last year totalled $7.14 million, compared with a small net profit of $278,000 one year earlier.
Latinusa, which sells tinplate in coils and sheets mainly for the packaging needs of food and milk manufacturing customers, can produce as much as 160,000 tpy at its plant in Cilegon, in western Java.
Its production dropped to 134,503 tonnes in 2014 from 149,014 tonnes a year earlier. Future demand The company expects to continue facing “turbulent market conditions” in 2015, but it noted it will launch “aggressive measures” to optimise both production efficiency and cost efficiency and enhance its competitiveness.
“Tinplate demand in Indonesia is well supported by the nation’s large population that serves as a solid consumer base for domestic manufacturing companies using tinplate for their product packaging materials, most notably the food and beverage industries,” the company said.
“In the last few years, it has become evident that the Indonesian economy has managed to retain positive growth despite facing pressures of the global financial crisis, an indication that the internal resilience and fundamentals of the domestic economy remain relatively stable,” it added.
Latinusa is 55%-owned by a consortium of Japanese companies led by Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp (NSSMC).
NSSMC owns 35% of the tinplate producer, followed by Mitsui Co with 10%, and Nippon Steel & Sumikin Bussan Corp and Metal One Corp with 5% each. Indonesia’s state-owned steelmaker Krakatau Steel owns a 20.10% stake.