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The 65-year-old steelmaker plans to produce
700,000 tonnes of recycled steel a year by 2025 and expand its presence in the
Greater Bay Area
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We have been in the recycled steel industry
from the very beginning, executive says
The Shiu Wing Steel plant at Tuen Mun. Photo: KY Cheng
Shiu
Wing Steel, Hong Kong’s first and only steel-rolling mill, will “go
back to its roots” to produce recycled steel to meet growing demand created by China’s green ambitions in
Hong Kong and other cities in the Greater Bay Area (GBA) development zone.
The 65-year-old steelmaker plans to build an electric-arc
furnace at its plant in Tuen Mun to produce 700,000 tonnes of recycled steel a
year by 2025 and expand its presence in the GBA, Dario Pong, Shiu Wing’s
executive director, said in an interview.
The construction steel market in the development zone, which
comprises Hong Kong, Macau and nine mainland Chinese cities in Guangzhou
province, is estimated at 20 to 25 million metric tonnes a year, which is huge
compared with Hong Kong’s market of 1.2 million tonnes to 1.5 million tonnes a
year.
“We hope to make the decision [to build the furnace] next year.
We need about two years to build and then need about 10 years to recover that
investment,” Pong said.
Dario
Pong, Shiu Wing’s executive director. Photo: KY Cheng
Shiu Wing’s investment plan follows China’s decarbonisation goals set
out at the 2020 United Nations General Assembly, where it pledged to peak
carbon emissions before 2030 and reach carbon neutrality by 2060.
“We want to restart our [green] steelmaking business because we are seeing a
new concept emerge – People are talking about green steel now,” Pong said.
Shiu Wing, which was founded in 1958, is a major supplier of
reinforced bars in Hong Kong, with a market share of more than 30 per cent.
Currently, it imports steel billets from abroad and turns them into various
steel products for the city’s construction industry.
The company used to produce recycled steel at a plant in Tseung
Kwan O. But it stopped doing so when it moved the plant to Tuen Mun, which
became operational in 1996, as it was uncertain about sourcing scrap metal.
“We have been in the green [steel] industry from the very
beginning,” Pong said.
An SCMP
archive photo of a Shiu Wing steel factory from 1967. The firm was founded in
1958. Photo: SCMP
Shiu Wing’s old plant in Tseung Kwan O was developed into a
large residential project called Ocean Shores after the 1997 handover of Hong
Kong.