A steel-processing plant using recycled steel and scrap metal in Oudong district, Kampong Speu province, has begun operations and is now ready to produce domestic steel products to supply construction industry demand.
Named Hong De Sheng (Cambodia), the plant is a $17 million investment. It is able to produce 500,000 tonnes a year at full capacity.
Speaking at the opening ceremony yesterday, Lin Xiangrong, chairman of Hong De Sheng (Cambodia), said that in the first phase of production, the plant will collect steel, recycled steel and other scrap metal to produce finished steel products.
The plant is also planning to import metals to produce finished products, Xiangrong said.
“The investment and opening ceremony of the steel-processing plant of Hong De Sheng (Cambodia) will contribute to the supply of steel in the construction sector in Cambodia.”
He also recalled support from the government and relevant parties to the plant, which employs 250 local workers.
Um Sotha, spokesman at the Ministry of Industry, Science, Technology and Innovation, said he could not speak to the number of plants producing steel-related products. but that the opening of the steel-processing plant is good for the construction sector.
“We are focusing on infrastructure development and the encouragement of investment in steel-processing plants in reply to the demand for local steel-consumption. That has been growing year-on-year during this period of rapid development in the infrastructure and construction sectors,” he said yesterday.
Despite facing the COVID-19 pandemic, construction sites are performing normally both in Phnom Penh and in the provinces, Sotha said.
According to Yos Monirath, director-general of mines at the Ministry of Mines and Energy, currently there are two other steel production plants using scrap metal for recycling into finished steel.
He said the ministry has issued exploration licences for metal mines, but so far production from those mines has not broken ground in the production of supply for domestic steel demand.
Figures from the General Department of Customs and Excise show that Cambodia imported 720,000 tonnes of steel costing $477 million in 2019.
This article was first published in Khmer Times. All contents and images are copyright to their respective owners and sources.
