The joint venture by Shougang Group signed last December with Malaysia’s Hiap Teck Venture Berhad is unlikely to start operation this year, said Zhu Jimin, chairman of the group. Progress of the project also hinges on the local labour recruitment, he continued.

Shougang launched a project to build a 1.8bn ringgit ($574. 25M) integrated steel mill in a joint venture.

Output will be steel slab and will be built on a 1200-acre land in Kemaman, an industrial city in the country’s East Coast economic development region that has moderate iron ore reserves. The project, called Eastern Steel, is the largest Chinese foreign direct investment to date in Malaysia.

Source: China Metals e-mail [email protected]