Posted on 10 Sep 2021
The ASEAN economies in the region are growing and are expected to drive the demand of steel to a new heights in the near future. In the last 2 years, the ASEAN has witnessed massive growth of investment in integrated steel mill plant, of which over 70% of the investment are from China. Nevertheless, the local steel industry itself has also been attracting new investments in mini mills and valued added processing mill to narrow the gap between demand supply of downstream steel products catered especially for own country building and construction.
Philippine’s SteelAsia Manufactu-
ring Corporation is constructing a new rolling mill in Compostela, Cebu Island to produce rebar and wire rod. The Compostela Works Rolling Mill is invested to meet the steel demand for infrastructure development of the region of Negros Island, Visayas. The 7th steel mill for SteelAsia, this rolling mill will have a capacity of 0.8 million MT a year and is expected to be in operation in 2022/2023.
SteelAsia has also planned for 2 EAF mini mills in Lemery, Batangas and Concepcion, Tarlac. The Lemery Works will have a capacity of 1.0 million MT/year to produce H-beams, I-beams, sheet piles, heavy angles, and channels in 2023/2024. While the Concepcion Woks planned for a 1.2 million MT/year capacity producing sections and wire rods in 2023/2024.
A new electrolytic tinning line mill owned by PERSTIMA Malaysia, the producer and supplier of tinplate in the ASEAN region, is expected to be in operation in 2021/2022. This new line is located in Batangas, Philippines and has a capacity of 0.2 million MT / year to produce tin plate and tin free steel.
Indonesian galvalume sheet producer, PT Sunrise located at Mojokerto, Jawa Timur Indonesia, has invested in a new cold rolled mill to produce quality thinner cold strip from cold rolled coil. The plant will be using cold rolled coil from Krakatau Steel as its feed materials. Commissioning this year 2021, the mill’s capacity of 0.2 million MT/year would lessen the dependency on imported cold rolled strips.
In Thailand, the 3rd mill of BlueScope has just started last year 2020 its new coating line. The plant is situated in the Map Ta Phut industrial estate in Rayong province, the same location as their current 2 factories. The line has a capacity of 0.16 million MT / year to produce coated steel and pre-painted coated steel. BlueScope is the largest producer of metallic coated steel and pre-painted coated steel in ASEAN.
The Siam Construction Steel Company, a subsidiary of TATA Steel Thailand has successfully restarted its EAF mini mill after an upgrade last year 2020 at Map Ta Phut industrial estate Thailand. The mini mill is producing concrete reinforcing bars. The mill has a capacity of 0.3 million MT/year.
Southern Steel Sheet Company (SSSC) is a joint venture between Vietnam Steel Corporation, Sumitomo Corporation Japan and Federal Iron Works Malaysia, has just completed a new continuous galvanizing line at Nhon Trach District, Dong Nai Province, Vietnam. The capacity of the line is 0.15 million MT/year, producing galvanized sheet, Al-Zn coated sheet and pre-painted color sheet.
Japanese steel pipe manufacturer Maruichi Steel Tube Ltd.’s subsidiary, Maruichi Sun Steel Joint Stock Company (SUNSCO) has just completed the construction of its 2nd cold rolling mill at Binh Duong Province in Vietnam this year 2021. SUNSCO is producing a thinner cold rolled strip for the local building and construction.
In Myanmar, JFE Meranti Myanmar Co. Ltd., has just started its hot-dip galvanizing and color coating line last year 2020 at the Thilawa Special Economic Zone near Yangon. The company is a joint venture of JFE Steel, JFE Shoji Trade Corp., Marubeni-Itochu Steel Inc., Hanwa Co., Ltd. and Meranti Steel Pte. Ltd. The capacities of the plant are 0.18 million MT/year for the hot-dip galvanizing line and 0.1 million MT/year for the color-coating line. The plant produces color coating sheet to meet its own local demand.
Mini mills and downstream steel production mills have always found a niche market in its products that complete the whole supply chain of the local steel industry. The mini mills are generally smaller, less complex and more efficient to operate compared to an integrated steel mill. Mini mills, rolling mills and coating lines are generally built to cater for the local building and construction market to lower reliance on imports of the same products. Therefore, these mills play an important role in moving the region forward and enhancing its competitiveness.
Source:SEAISI
