Smelter plan placed on hold

Unless the government grants attractive support to such invest¬ments, Sahaviriya may decide to build its smelter in Vietnam or China instead.

Speaking at a seminar yesterday titled "Lek Thai Sang Thai" (Thai Steel Industry Builds Thailand) held by Siamrath, Sahaviriya director Win Viriyaprapaikit said the many changes in government in recent times had made the policy on upstream steel smelters unclear.

"We will wait and see the govern¬ment's direction this year. It should announce a clear policy, assuring steelmakers that the policy will not be changed despite political insta¬bility," he said.

The government's policy should cover infrastructure development and funding support from state financial institutions, Win added.

"If we invest in China or Vietnam, our costs would be 2025 per cent lower than if we invested here. However, we would prefer to estab¬lish our steel smelter here, and it is just a matter of the government showing us a clear direction and attractive support," he said.