Market share of PT Krakatau Steel's main products, namely Hot Rolled Coil (HRC) and Cold Rolled Coil (CRC), increased from 35% and 14% in 2019 to 45% and 21% in 2020, respectively.

President Director of PT Krakatau Steel (Persero) Tbk Silmy Karim said the decline in iron and steel imports in 2020 significantly impacted industrial performance and utilization.

"The decline in iron and steel imports in 2020 is a breath of fresh air for the domestic steel industry. This can continue in 2021 so that efforts to increase the utilization of the national iron and steel industry can be realized, "said Silmy through a press release, Thursday (11/2).

"The increase in Krakatau Steel's market share in 2020, apart from being supported by the role of import control by the Government, also because Krakatau Steel is currently more competitive by successfully reducing its operating costs," he added.

The efficiency initiatives undertaken by Krakatau Steel have also succeeded in reducing operational costs by 41% from US$337.5 million in 2019 to US$198 million by the end of 2020, which has boosted Krakatau Steel's competitiveness in the domestic steel market.

One of the regulations regulating the control of domestic iron and steel imports is Regulation of the Minister of Trade Number 3 of 2020 (Permendag 3/2020) concerning Provisions for Importing Iron or Steel, Alloy Steel, and Derivative Products.

Based on data from the Central Statistics Agency, iron and steel imports in 2020 decreased by 36% to 4.47 million tonnes compared to 2019 at 6.96 million tonnes.