Posted on 16 Dec 2020
Lion Industries Corporation Bhd will be restarting its flat products steel project to produce hot-rolled coil (HRC) in the second quarter of 2021 with a production capacity of 2.5 million to 3 million tonnes a year.
The company is also planning to invest in a blast furnace (BF) project with the first phase involving an investment of RM3 billion comprising a 3,000 cubic metres BF, sinter plant, coke oven and two converters to add its existing three arc furnaces, ladle furnace and caster.
Lion Industries said production capacity from these projects will be 5.5 million tonnes per annum of which 4.5 million
tonnes will be to produce HRC and 1 million tonnes will be for the manufacture of high-grade polished shaft bars and wire rods.
"This production capacity of 5.5 million tonnes of steel products from the BF and the three arc furnaces will enable us to replace imports worth RM13 billion a year through import substitution.
"This new investment will create 7,000 new job opportunities with 95 per cent being local engineers and technicians, and the remaining 5 per cent being foreign experts needed to provide training and technology transfer," the company said in a statement today.
With the existing capacity of 1.2 million tonnes of steel bars and wire rods by Amsteel Mills Sdn Bhd and Eden Flame Sdn Bhd (formerly Antara Steel Mills Johor), Lion Industries total steel output will be 6.7 million tonnes per annum.
"We are currently in negotiation with a Chinese steel group to be the potential foreign partner for the BF project.
"We are very appreciative of the support from the government for us to restart our 2.5 million tonne HRC plant and undertake the RM3 billion BF project, and to grant full protection for the flat products sector to cover both the upstream and downstream, namely HRC, cold-rolled coil (CRC), galvanised iron (GI) sheet, electro-galvanised (EG) sheet, coloured sheet, and pipes and tubes," the company said.
Lion Industries will work closely with the downstream manufacturing industries to upgrade the local steel industry to produce high-grade steel for the local as well as export markets.
It said Malaysian steel consumption has remained relatively unchanged at about 10 to 11 million tonnes per annum for the last 15 years, however, Vietnam's steel consumption has increased from 3 million tonnes to 23 million tonnes per annum for the last 15 years.
There is vast potential for the steel industry to grow in this region, the company noted.
"With the full support of the government for us to implement our HRC and BF projects, we are confident that Malaysia's steel consumption will increase to 15 million tonnes per annum within the next 5 years.
"We need the support and cooperation of everyone; the government, upstream and downstream to work together to achieve this 15 million tonnes target," the company said.
Source:New Straits Times
