Acerinox SA has announced that it is pumping in an extra USD 251 million for the second phase of its stainless steel production plant in Malaysia. Acerinox’s investment in Tanjung Langsat near Pasir Gudang is the single largest foreign investment in Johor so far, with a commitment to pump in as much as USD 1.5 billion into the Johor economy. The Johor plant is the company’s first plant in Asia. Its existing plants are in Spain, South Africa and the US. In the first stage, Acerinox had committed USD 320 million to build a cold rolling mill that will have a production capacity of 240,000tns/yr of which 182,000tns will be cold rolled production. The integrated plant, on a 140 hectare site is being developed in phases over 12 years. At its peak, it will have the capacity to produce one million tonnes of stainless steel, including 600,000tns of cold rolled steel sheets, annually. Acerinox owns 67% of the plant, while the balance is owned by its Japanese partner. The Spain-based firm had picked Johor because of its port facilities, which provides sea connectivity to markets within ASEAN as well as Australia and India.
