Bangladesh Steel Industry Review

Published by

EBL Securities
Published on

December 26, 2019
Industries

Steel

Bangladesh is one of Asia’s buoyant emerging steel markets and has a growing need for raw materials and steelmaking technologies. The movement towards a progressive national economy strongly depends on how the construction materials especially steel related industries have evolved and such products are readily available. Steel is a basic raw material for infrastructural development and multiple other uses. Fortunately, the country has a proud heritage for the art of steel making and shaping for a long time.

The Government of Bangladesh has projected the economy to grow by 8.2% in FY2020. Meanwhile, Asian Development Bank (ADB) has also forecasted the economy to grow by 8.0% in FY2020, which makes Bangladesh as the fastest growing economy in Asia-Pacific region. According to industry experts, there is a linkage between a country’s economic growth and growth in steel consumption. If GDP is expected to grow by 8%, steel industry should grow by at least 16% per year.

The country’s economic activities took a turnaround in recent period. Increase in VAT and other regulatory duties, implementation of new VAT law and strict field level enforcement along with higher market competition, high interest rates and slow private credit growth etc. has significantly affected industry demand and sales of various industries including steel as well. Meanwhile, global economic slow-down has also started to affect the economy of the country.

However, our long term view remained positive as the demand for steel will inevitably grow in line with the country’s economic and infrastructural development. Major buyers of mild steel and re-rolled products include government, individuals and institutional buyers in the real estate sector. Implementation of the government’s huge infrastructural development plans have been driving the double digit growth rate in the country’s steel industry and we expect that the industry will also be enjoying strong growth in the next decade amid ambitious development initiatives by the government. Besides, growing urbanization, industrialization, increased wage earners’ remittance inflows and higher purchasing power of consumers are accelerating the growth in overall construction sector.

EBL Securities

EBL Securities Ltd. (EBLSL) is one of the fastest growing full-service brokerage companies in Bangladesh and a fully owned subsidiary of Eastern Bank Limited. EBLSL is also one of the top five leading stock brokerage houses of the country.

EBLSL has developed a disciplined approach towards providing capital market services, including securities trading, margin loan facilities, depository services, foreign trading facilities, Bloomberg Terminal, online trading facilities, research services, panel brokerage services, trading through NITA for foreign investors & NRBs etc.

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