Investment, Trade and Industry Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz.— MUHAMAD SHAHRIL ROSLI/The Star
KUALA LUMPUR: The Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry (MITI) has launched the Steel Industry Roadmap 2035 (SIR2035), which provides a "sequential pathway” to stabilise, restructure, and transform Malaysia’s steel industry.
Its minister, Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz, said the roadmap outlines 15 strategies, setting out a phased strategy to address overcapacity, strengthen resilience, and reposition the industry for sustainable growth in line with global decarbonisation trends.
"SIR2035 outlines 15 main strategies across three phases. In the immediate term (the next two years), the focus is on stabilisation - managing overcapacity, restructuring licensing frameworks, and enforcing discipline against illegal operators, while securing domestic raw materials and laying the foundations for decarbonisation,” he added.
He said this in his speech today when launching SIR2035, as well as the ASEAN Policymakers Conference on Steel and the 2025 ASEAN Iron and Steel Forum.
Tengku Zafrul said the roadmap shifts to transformation mode from 2027 to 2035, accelerating carbon mechanisms, developing low-carbon production infrastructure and standards, and reinvesting in new technologies to build capabilities.
"Beyond 2035, the aim is a fully green steel sector by 2050, mobilising talent and capital to keep Malaysia’s steel industry competitive, resilient, and aligned with Net Zero commitments,” he said, adding that SIR2035 is in line with the New Industrial Master Plan 2030, the National Energy Transition Roadmap, and Net Zero aspirations by 2050.
The minister said Malaysia faces a stark imbalance between supply and demand in its steel industry, with domestic projections showing upstream capacity could reach 40.8 million tonnes by 2030, while domestic demand is only 14.7 million tonnes.
"This gap highlights overcapacity - assets underutilised, poor return on investments, and weakening competitiveness and resilience (in the market),” he continued. "Steel remains among Malaysia’s most carbon-intensive industries, exposing us to regulatory market barriers and making decarbonisation a necessity, both environmentally and economically.”
Tengku Zafrul highlighted that the steel demand in ASEAN has grown steadily, with apparent consumption in the ASEAN-6 at 74 million tonnes in 2023, close to the pre-pandemic peak of 80 million tonnes in 2018-2019.
However, the industry faces pressing challenges as there is more than 600 million tonnes of excess steelmaking capacity globally, much of which is seeking ASEAN markets, while regional steel demand is projected to reach 80 million tonnes by 2025.
"Yet the situation is far from ideal, ASEAN faces oversupply in long steel products, while remaining heavily import-dependent in flat steel products. This imbalance distorts our markets and creates an excessive burden to ASEAN’s steel industry,” he noted.
Tengku Zafrul also highlighted that these challenges are further compounded by the introduction of new
regulatory measures on decarbonisation and green steel obligations, as well as unfair practices such as dumping and transhipment. "The tariff burden, including the US Section 232 tariff on steel and aluminum, will also have serious implications for major ASEAN producers,” he added.
Moving forward, Tengku Zafrul said Malaysia looks forward to partnering with ASEAN to turn plans into performance and aspirations into actions, forging a steel industry that is competitive, fair, and future-ready. - Bernama
