Tuesday 19 Mar 2024
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KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 8): Mycron Steel Bhd said the local steel industry is benefitting from anti-dumping measures imposed by the government, and said such measures should be kept in place.

While it would be cheaper to import in the absence of duty on cold rolled coil (CRC), Mycron executive chairman Tunku Datuk Yaacob Khyra said it can result in price disruption in the local steel market.

“When customers buy CRC from China for cheap, it causes a disruption in the CRC market as all of us have to lower our prices. But the price for hot rolled coil (HRC) — the raw material for CRC – that we buy from other countries like Japan has not gone down.

“Therefore we would face a margin squeeze,” he told the press at a briefing following Mycron and Melewar Industrial Group Bhd’s annual general meeting today. Melewar is the holding company of Mycron.

Yaacob also noted that about two years ago, the selling price of CRC was the same as HRC, its raw material.

“What these trade measures allow is that it stops speculators from bringing in these materials, hoping to make a quick profit,” he said.

Asked whether the rising steel price had affected Mycron’s margins, Yaacob said the company passes down the difference to its customers.

Mycron chief operating officer Roshan Abdullah said steel prices are expected to remain on an uptrend in the short term, following the spike in the commodity.

“In the short term, steel prices will be on a significant uptrend. We can’t predict what steel prices would do, considering the Chinese New Year — a key point in the steel market – is just around the corner.

“Currently we sense that prices would remain high up till January and February next year, but we can’t really tell what will happen beyond that,” he said.

At 4.48pm, shares of Mycron Steel Bhd had climbed six sen or 7.84% to 82.5 sen for a value of RM233.8 million.

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