Myanmar Steel Association (MSA) organised a seminar on “Towards the Sustainable Iron and Steel Industry in Myanmar: Opportunities and Challenges” on August 29 in Hilton Hotel, Nay Pyi Taw with the support and guidance of the Ministry of Industry.
Sit Taing Aung, Chairman of MSA said that “Steel consumption is one of the economy growth indexes to measure the development of a country. As the domestic steel consumption of 2.1 million tonnes in 2017 has increased to 2.4 million tonnes in 2018, the projection for our country’s steel market demand will rise to about three million tonnes by next year and continue to surge to about five million tonnes in 2025 with 8 percent of the annual growth rate. Standardisation is very important only with which it will assure the guarantee for the consumers, and create a level playing field for the local manufacturers. It will also prevent inconsistent quality import products from flocking into the local market from various countries, which will be a massive threat for safety when constructing infrastructure projects for the public to use.”
However, under the current circumstances, Myanmar relies heavily on imports rather than local production as only 10 percent of the consumption is produced locally and the rest 90 percent is imported. During the seminar, the first paper “A Technical Overview of Iron and Steel Making Processes Available for Myanmar” was submitted by Win Kyaw, a senior adviser of MSA and he discussed the pros and cons of steel making processes available for Myanmar, opportunities for local steel market, market overview of neighbouring countries etc.
The second paper “Strategic Environmental Assessment” was read by Maung Maung Than, Retired Director of Forest Department and he highlighted the benefits of SEA and how and why the SEA should be conducted to reduce the impact on society and environment. The third paper was thoroughly discussed by Xu Qungue, Engineer Professor of WISDEI Engineering and Research Inc. Ltd on the topic “Role of China’s Expertise in Regional Iron and Steel Development: An Overview”. Professor Dr. Kay Thi Lwin, Chairman of Myanmar Iron and Steel Industry Association (MISA) discussed on “Development of Myanmar Standards for Steel Products” and urged to set local steel standards.
