Malaysia: Eastern Steel rolls out its first commercial HRCs

• ESSB becomes sole producer of HRCs in Malaysia
  
  
• New hot strip mill capable of producing 3.5-mnt/y
  
  

Mysteel Global: Malaysia's steel major Eastern Steel Sdn Bhd (ESSB) successfully produced its first hot-rolled coil (HRC) on 21 December at its Kemaman integrated steel works in Terengganu, West Malaysia, using its 1,450-mm hot strip mill, Mysteel Global has learnt. This marks the official commissioning of, currently, the country's only HRC mill.

The new hot strip mill has a designed annual production capacity of 3.5 million tonnes (mnt) and was constructed over 20 months.

ESSB has an annual production capacity of 800,000 tonnes (t) of coke, 120,000 t of ferro alloys, 2.52 mnt of pig iron, and 2.7 mnt of billets and slabs, according to its company profile.

It blew in its second blast furnace at the Kemaman works in August 2023, which has an inner volume of 1,380 cu metres (cu m), more than double that of the works' first unit, inaugurated over a decade earlier, which has a 600 cu m inner volume.

ESSB is Malaysia's sole producer of steel slabs and, currently, its only producer of HRCs. For many years, Lion Group's Megasteel Sdn Bhd had been the only HRC maker in the country, but Megasteel ceased operations in 2016, owing to financial problems.

ESSB's expansion plans have been many years in the making. The company started constructing its Kemaman plant in 2011 and commenced production in January 2015. However, just ten months later in October 2015, it was forced to suspend operations for several years due to difficult market conditions prevailing then.

Founding company and majority shareholder Hiap Teck Group began searching for a partner to revive the steel plant and, at one time, began talks with Angang Group Hong Kong, the Hong Kong arm of Liaoning-based integrated giant Anyang Steel. However, the negotiations broke down.

In April 2018, Hiap Teck sold 20% of its shares in the steel company to the Beijing Jianlong Group, giving the Chinese firm a commanding 60% stake.

In November 2021, Jianlong injected further funds into ESSB to help finance the expansion at Kemaman, which lifted the Chinese firm's stake to 68.8% and reduced Hiap Teck's to 27.3%.

The launch of ESSB's hot strip mill fills a significant gap in Malaysia's HRC production and completes the country's steel industry chain, particularly benefiting industries such as construction, home appliances, and automotive manufacturing, Beijing Jianlong Heavy Industry Group Co said in a media release.

Note: This article has been written in accordance with a content exchange agreement between Mysteel Global and BigMint.