Delong to import slab for future HRC mill in Thailand

Delong Holdings Ltd does not envisage the construction of steelmaking facilities for its planned hot rolled flat steel mill in Thailand, it told Steel First on Monday March 3.

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“Delong will import slabs and re-roll them into HRC [hot rolled coil],” the Singapore Exchange (SGX)-listed company said in reply to queries sent by Steel First as whether it could produce crude steel in the future in the Southeast Asian nation.

The company entered into a joint venture agreement last week with three Thai service centres for the installation of a 600,000-tpy HRC plant in Thailand.

It plans to install the mill “within 18 months” from the date of the agreement, with each party now looking to obtain approval from their boards to establish the joint venture company.

If the plan moves ahead, Delong’s plant would become the second main slab importer in Thailand after Sahaviriya Steel Industries (SSI), which sources most of its slab needs from its own slab plant in Teesside in the north-east of England.