Steelworks in Kampong Speu set to fire up soon
Steelworks in Kampong Speu set to fire up soon
Chinese-owned Hong De Sheng (Cambodia) Steel Co Ltd’s $16.7 million steelworks in Kampong Speu province’s northeastern Oudong district is set to start operations soon.
The company cited Cambodia’s favourable geographical location and high government incentives for foreign investors as the main forces behind the decision to invest in the Kingdom.
It claims that the plant will produce 500,000 tonnes of different kinds of steel products per annum.
It registered in November last year with the Ministry of Commerce and registered the project with the Council for the Development of Cambodia in April this year.
During a visit to the steelworks on Monday, Electricite du Cambodge (EdC) managing director Keo Rottanak said EdC would supply the plant with between 30 and 50MW of electricity.
He said: “The factory will help reduce steel imports from abroad and help create hundreds of jobs for Cambodians,” he said.
Yos Monirath, director-general of the Ministry of Mines and Energy’s General Department of Mineral Resources, told The Post on Tuesday that the plant would help curb steel imports.
He said: “We welcome and support the establishment of a steelworks to process scrap metal for domestic consumption.”
Cambodia imported $565.91 million worth of building materials in the first half of this year, while arrivals were in excess of $1.51 billion for the whole year 2019, data from the Ministry of Economy and Finance’s General Department of Customs and Excise show.
Broken down by category, the Kingdom imported 217,151 tonnes of steel worth $140.8 million, 681,817 tonnes of cement worth $43.27 million and 672,785 tonnes of “construction equipment” worth $381.84 million.
For the whole year 2019, it imported 722,621 tonnes of steel worth $477.19 million, 1.97 million tonnes of cement worth $128.85 million and 1.7 million tonnes of “construction equipment” worth $900.51 million.
Vietnamese steelmaker Hoa Phat Group JSC shipped 151,000 tonnes of steel to Cambodia last year, accounting for more than 50 per cent of its total export volume, Viet Nam News reported. The Kingdom ordered 70,000 tonnes of steel from the company in 2018.
