Author: Myanmar Business Today | 08 Nov 2017
Tokyo — JFE Steel Corporation, Meranti Steel, JFE Shoji Trade Corporation, Marubeni-Itochu Steel, and Hanwa Co, announced today their agreement to form a joint venture to produce and sell hot-dip galvanized and colored flat steel products for the building and construction sector in Myanmar.
The five companies will establish a manufacturing and sales company, JFE Meranti Myanmar Co. Ltd., in Myanmar through a Singapore-based holding company, JFE Meranti Myanmar Holding Pte. Ltd. The joint venture will seek approval from relevant authorities to construct a new plant, and aim to launch operations in 2020. The plant is to be located in the Thilawa Special Economic Zone (SEZ) with a total investment of approximately $85 million US dollars, according to a joint press release.
Since democratization of Myanmar in 2011, economic development has progressed dramatically. The demand is rapidly expanding for flat steel products for building and construction, such as roofs, walls and structures. Currently, most of these steel materials have to be imported, but the need is expected to rise for locally produced high-quality products supported with technical services and short lead times. The demand will increase as foreign companies increasingly enter Myanmar and build manufacturing plants, and as customer preferences shift to higher-end products as the standard of living rises.
The new joint venture aims to promptly launch its lines for hot-dip galvanization and coating to capture the increasing demand for high-quality thin-plate building materials. This will be the first project in Myanmar focused on manufacturing high-grade galvanized flat steel products.
Meranti is a venture company with abundant knowledge of flat steel products for building and construction, for which it has conducted detailed studies and marketing in Myanmar. The new joint venture plans to maximize customer satisfaction by leveraging the manufacturing technology and quality-control know-how of JFE Steel and the overseas networks of JFE Shoji, MISI and Hanwa.
JFE Engineering, a member of the JFE Group, is already conducting a wide range of infrastructure-related businesses in Myanmar. JFE now looks forward to contributing to further economic development in Myanmar with its flat steel products for the country’s building and construction sector.
Ref: https://www.mmbiztoday.com/articles/joint-venture-launching-produce-flat-steel-products