Cut from master plan, Kyoei adamant on long-delayed steel plant

August 19, 2017 | 12:09

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In spite of being warned to cut the project from its new steel master plan to 2020 with vision to 2030, Japanese steelmaker Kyoei Steel confirms its determination to revive its delayed high-quality steel project in the northern province of Ninh Binh.

Kyoei Steel's plant was supposed to come into operation in 2015 (Illustration)

According to newswire Nikkei, the investor will pour $200 million into the project, the construction of which is expected to start by the end of this year, with the rolling mill slated to come online in 2019 and the steelmaking facility in 2020.

Earlier in March 2012, Kyoei organised the ground-breaking ceremony of the project.

According to the initial plan, the project was to come into commercial operation in 2015 with a capacity of 500,000 tonnes. It was expected to become the second-largest steel project in Vietnam’s northern region after the Thai Nguyen steel project. Its capacity could rise to about one million tonnes of steel bar products when reaching full production.

However, until 2016, the project had only moved at a snail’s pace, thus the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) warned to cut it from the country's steel industry development master plan.

Before MoIT’s warning, Kyoei Steel remained committed to its delayed high-quality steel project and said that it blamed the delays on market oversupply, which made it difficult to sell its output.

Kyoei Steel officially entered Vietnam in 1994 as Vina Kyoei Steel, established as a joint venture between Kyoei Steel, Mitsui & Co., Itochu Corporation (Japan), and Vietnam Steel Corporation. Its factory is located in Phu My Industrial Zone in the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau.

In 2015, it began an extension project in Ba Ria-Vung Tau with a total investment of $220 million, and an annual designed capacity of 500,000 metric tonnes of billets, and 500,000 metric tonnes of finished products.

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