Meranti Singapore tells Kallanish it is planning to invest $85 million in a galvanizing plant in Myanmar’s Thilawa Special Economic Zone. The project will join several others in the same zone, all targeted at Myanmar’s small but rapidly expanding steel market.
“There’s a strong market already in Myanmar and we see it growing at double digits year-on-year,” says Meranti ceo Sebastian Langedorf. The Posco Research Institute has said that Myanmar’s steel demand could more than double to around 4.77 million tonnes by 2025.
The company plans to sign a reservation agreement with the zone operator Myanmar Japan Thilawa Development at the start of 2017 and could see the plant begin production in 2019. The plant is envisioned as having a dual pot system to allow both zinc and zinc-aluminium coatings. 80% of output will be sold domestically with the remainder potentially exported to the Middle East or East Africa.
The Thilawa SEZ is also home to several other steel investments. Japanese steel exporter R&K Trading is in the process of commissioning a 120,000 t/y fabricating plant in the zone, while Thailand’s Millcon Steel and General Engineering, and Vietnam’s PEB Steel also both plan fabrication plants there.