After 1000% returns Southeast Asia's hottest stocks fizzled out

Among the worst performers on the regional benchmark index this year, Indah Kiat has tumbled 14% after a 114% gain in 2018

The past two years have been stellar for Indonesia’s pulp and paper stocks. But that hot trade has since fizzled as concerns surrounding slowing global growth and the US-China trade spat depressed demand in the sector.
 

Shares of PT Indah Kiat Pulp & Paper and PT Pabrik Kertas Tjiwi Kimia soared more than 1,000% in the two years leading up to 2019 -- making them the best performing stocks on Southeast Asia’s benchmark MSCI Asean Index. The surge was partly due to the price of Chinese pulp sky-rocketing in 2017, China’s ban on US waste paper import for a month