Events & Activities

On 5^th October 2018, MITI Secretary General urged the Iron & Steel industry to work together to develop a White Paper on Way Forward for the Iron & Steel Industry. The policy includes “from the Industry, for the Industry” to ensure long-term commitment and sustainability. A total number of 50 people from 11 associations were involved in this study. The iron and steel players agreed to work together for long-term sustainability and will be geared towards end-user-centric and to grow the overall demand for locally-produced steel products. Overall, the steel industry players spent a total of1500 man hour consist of 13 hours of workshops and meetings to make this paper a success. 

The iron & steel industry has identified seven drivers which are important to drive the    steel industry forward. The drivers consist of: 

1. Catalyze new growth markets and align them with the iron and steel industry
2. Implement development-oriented policies that support accelerated growth
3. Position technology at the focal point of all iron and steel development initiatives
4. Equalize development in all segments of the value chain
5.  Strengthen institutions and institutional enforcements strategic to the   development of the industry
6. Facilitate consolidation of the industry
7. Prioritize national interests first.

The White Paper for the iron and steel industry has been submitted to MITI on 30 April 2019 during MSC meeting No.1/2019 as inputs for the National Steel Policy inputs. 

Local content is safeguarding direct and indirect prospects opportunity for our Malaysian employment and procurement for our manufacturer. This will encourage the utilisation and development of knowledge, skills, technology development and manufacturing in the Malaysian industry.

Petronas

On 13 February 2017, MSI organised a dialogue session between MISIF and contractors of PETRONAS RAPID Pengerang project. The dialogue session introduced MISIF’s members and their products such as wire rods, steel bars and steel and stainless-steel pipes to contractors. The session encourage contractors to use local products which include point-rating whereby points are given for contractors using local content and the points will be one of factors to be considered before any contacts can be awarded.

East Coast Rail Line (ECRL) 

On 21^stSeptember 2017, MSI visited China Communications Construction (ECRL) Sdn Bhd to promote local content of Iron & Steel. The project started in 2018 until 2021 with an estimated consumption of 1 million metric tonne of steel. Around 10,000 job opportunities will be created where the priority will be given to Malaysian. MSI introduced several local companies that makes rebar, steel wire rod and PC wire to ECRL and assisted ECRL to get more information on Standard Operation Procedure (SOP) for explosive materials.

The iron and steel industry are one of the highest consumers of electricity and natural gas. On average, energy costs account for 12% of the manufacturing costs and any increase on the energy cost will affect the competitiveness of steel players. 

PWC on Energy Consumption Activities

On 22 February 2018, MSI had a meeting with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) to discuss on sustainable steel production using EAF (Electric Arc Furnace) in Malaysia. EAF is envisaged to become one of the important steelmaking processes in reducing carbon dioxide emission. 

20 Year National Energy Policy for Malaysia by Boston Consulting Group (BCG)  

Boston Consulting Group (BCG) was appointed by the Economic Planning Unit (EPU) to develop a 20-year National Energy Policy for Malaysia. One of it is to build an energy consumption view for the iron and steel sector. MSI have provided some information relating to potential future growth and technology aspects for the industry. 

In March 2020, the government had imposed a Movement Control Order (MCO) across the country to curb the spread of the virus. Steel was not being listed as an essential item and was not allowed to operate.

From March till May 2020, MSI assisted more than 40 steel companies to get their applications processed to obtained idle maintenance, followed by resumption of operations from MITI during the period of Movement Control Order (MCO) and Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO). All applications were submitted to the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI). The nature of the steel factories requires 24 hours/ 7 days operation. Their manufacturing lines and production units including the efficiency of electricity and natural gas consumption/cost and supporting personnel are designed for the 24/7 operations.