(SIMS) announced its intention to open a new plant in Malaysia. The planned annual production capacity of the enterprise in copper equivalent shall make 36 thousand tons of rolled wire and cables.
The enterprise will start operation with maximum performance by 2012, but even now the Company talks of its capability of bringing monthly copper cable production to 1 thousand tons in Q4 of the current year. SIMS intends to raise this index to 2 thousand tons by midyear 2010. Then, the rolled wire manufacture will be started, too. In a year, cable production shall reach 3 thousand tons a month.
The Company intends to cooperate with African raw material suppliers. Copper will basically be procured in RSA, Congo and Zambia. SIMS representatives select India as their principal sales outlet, and they plan exporting up to three quarters of the product yield there.
Port Klang free economic area was chosen as a site for deployment of the new plant. By expert estimates, it will help solving many problems with taxation and customs duties in future, and, apparently it is expedient in terms of logistics, should the Company expectations as to successful cooperation with Indian partners prove true. All the more, the prices for copper should grow significantly as global non-ferrous metal market recovers.