The steel plate market in the Batam Free Trade Zone is very large, namely 75% of the Indonesian market share. PT Krakatau Steel's steel plate products are not competitive in the Batam Free Trade Area, especially in terms of price and long delivery times. So, a strategy is needed to increase competitiveness. This type of research is a quasi-qualitative research method with interviews, questionnaires, observation, and literature study. In this study, there are two problem formulations, namely how to determine the criteria for competitiveness and how to improve the strategy for increasing the competitiveness of PT Krakatau Steel's steel plate in the Batam Free Trade Area. In determining the criteria for competitiveness, AHP analysis is used. For strategies to increase competitiveness using the SWOT-AHP analysis. The results showed that the criteria affecting the competitiveness of steel were Manufacture Strategy with a weighting value of 0.526 with sub-criteria for cost, quality, delivery, and flexibility. The SWOT analysis shows that the strategy currently used by PT Krakatau Steel is SO. Based on the results of the SWOT-AHP analysis research, it was found that the competitiveness of PT Krakatau Steel could still be improved with the ST strategy which was more relevant to the situation in the Batam Free Trade Area.