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NatSteel to
expand capacity
The Hindu Business
Line — November 7, 2006 NatSteel
Asia Pte plans to expand its capacity to 5-6 million tonnes a year of finished
steel products from about 3.8 mt as of now. The expansion will come about in the
next five-six years and will largely be in Vietnam, Philippines and Indonesia,
according to senior NatSteel officials. During an interaction with visiting Indian
journalists at NatSteel's headquarters in Singapore, the officials said that demand
for finished steel products was expected to grow in the Asean (Association of
South East Asian Nations) region due to increased construction activities and
NatSteel hoped to be able to capture a part of this growth. NatSteel
Asia, which was acquired by Tata Steel in 2005, makes steel products for the construction
industry and has plants in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines,
Australia and China. Its total capacity is two mt a year, while Millennium Steel
Company of Thailand, which Tata Steel acquired in December 2005, has about 1.8
mt a year capacity to make steel products for the construction and automobile
industries. Downstream products Mr
Oo Soon Hee, president and CEO, NatSteel Asia, said the expansion would be in
downstream products such as wire making, cut and bend reinforcement bars. In the
region, NatSteel would focus more on Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines, where
demand for downstream products was expected to grow substantially. According to
T V Narendran, deputy president (operations), NatSteel, steel consumption in the
Asean region was about 40 mt a year, a little more than half of which was long
products mainly used in the construction industry. Vietnam,
Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines were countries with good growth potential,
with Vietnam probably growing the fastest. Unlike in India, where the construction
industry buys steel rods and fabricates them to their requirement at construction
sites, NatSteel offers factory-made cut-and-bend reinforcement bars, wire mesh
and prefabricated cages. Mindset change NatSteel
officials say that the company will work through Tata Steel to bring these practices
to the Indian construction industry. It has held discussions with large construction
players such as Gammon India, Larsen and Toubro and the Shapoorji Pallonji group
and has found them to be receptive to the idea. The officials said that using
factory-made construction steel called for a mindset change among the contractors.
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