Chen
KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah Scrap Metals Recycle Association (SSMRA) reiterates its willingness to cooperate with the local steel mill to work out a win-win situation on raw material supply in the state.
Its president, Edwin Chen, stressed that SSMRA would like to assist the steel mill to overcome its problem and supply.
“We hope to have an open discussion with our Chief Minister and the steel mill to respond to the issues and look for a fair and win-win situation for all parties,” said Chen in a statement on Tuesday.
Chen again said that SSMRA was very surprised when the state government announced recently the temporary ban on the export of scrap iron to Peninsular Malaysia due to insufficient supply of raw materials to the one and only steel mill in Sabah.
“We felt very disappointed that our state government did not talk to both parties and understand the whole situation before making this decision,” he said.
According to Chen, the issue of shortage of raw material supply to the steel mill in Sabah was brought up since July last year.
In response to this issue, SSMRA has made it clear that it is willing to cooperate with the local steel mill to work out a win-win situation together, he said but lamented that unfortunately until now the steel mill has not taken the initiative to have an open conversation with them.
“Our statistics also shows that currently 70 per cent to 80 per cent of our local scrap dealers (SSMRA members and non SSMRA members) are already supplying scrap to the local steel mill via their appointed agent,” he said.
According to Chen, the remaining scrap dealers did not sell to the only local steel mill due to matters like logistic, price, payment terms, delivery time, and most importantly because the local steel mill cannot buy in bulk.
“The steel mill agent has even cancelled our scrap dealer order while the price has dropped. All the above limitations caused by the steel mill will badly affect the scrap dealer who might be facing losses due to the delay in closing the sales and purchase deal,” Chen stressed.
He pointed out that the Covid-19 pandemic has greatly affected the global economy in recent times and with a weak economy, it is no surprise that development will be slower, consumer spending lower, and industries will be cutting down production.
These, he said, are also some main reasons why the local market is producing less scrap materials.
“We, as the scrap dealers are also facing the above issues, with more than 500 workers under our scrap recycling industry sector, we are working very hard to run our business, keeping our workers, solving all the difficulties that we are facing now.
“Therefore, we should not be the ones that have to sacrifice and be blamed due to the shortage of raw materials and prohibited our trade freedom. We wish to appeal that our government could hear our voice, only by being fair will it bring benefit to the whole Sabah society,” Chen said.
SSMRA was founded in 2008 with a mission to recycle scrap ferrous and non-ferrous metals. Its objectives are to promote education and the knowledge of recycling, to liaise and assist with the relevant government authorities and non-government organizations in all matters pertaining to the industry.