• BIMB Securities recently attended a trade forum organized by the Malaysian Iron and Steel Industry Federation (MISIF) at the DoubleTree Hilton Shah Alam i-City ballroom. The event focused on navigating global trade market dynamics for a sustainable future in the iron and steel industry, with one of the highlighted themes being 'Building Resilience and a Sustainable Future.

• As Malaysia strives to simultaneously reach the top 30 in the global economies in the near future and achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, it faces a dilemma for both the government and private sectors to tackle the challenges in aligning with the objectives of Malaysia Madani economy, and thus, necessitating significant growth in the Malaysia Iron and Steel Industry.

• Despite its contribution to carbon emission in Malaysia, the iron and steel industry plays a significant role as one of the largest contributors to the country’s GDP.

• Given that Ann Joo Resources Berhad (Ann Joo) falls under our coverage for the steel industry, we have a SELL call for Ann Joo with a TP of RM0.84. Our valuation is based on a 30% discount to 5-year forward mean P/BV of 0.6x, pegged to FY24F BV/share of RM2.00.

• We have assigned Ann Joo an overall ESG rating of 2.8 of 5, placing it in the “Fair” rating band.

Malaysia’s National Energy Transition Roadmap (NETR) and Its Impact on the Iron & Steel: by Dr. Afiza, Director, Energy Division, Ministry of Economy

i) National Energy Transition Roadmap (NETR)

The Ministry of Economy is actively engaged in an economic restructuring initiative, with a strong emphasis on energy transition. Moving forward with the National Energy Transition Roadmap, these numbers hold significant importance. At present, the Ministry of Economy has identified 10 Flagship Catalyst Projects and 50 Key Initiatives and Enablers aimed at achieving the goal of net-zero emissions by 2050. With the flagship project, the Ministry aims to raise investments to RM25bn, create 23,000 jobs, and reduce 10,000 GgCO2. Additionally, through the 50 initiatives, the Ministry targets an increase in the RM25bn investment (projected for 2023) to RM220bn and aims to generate 310,000 jobs by 2050.

ii) Responsible Transition (RT) Pathway 2050

It is worth noting that energy transition is important as the need to secure our energy for future is increasing and the source of fossil fuel is depleting. This is to avoid dependency on one energy source and to reduce carbon emission. In the Responsible Transition (RT) Pathway 2050, it aims to increase renewable energy (RE) in power generation mix to phase out coal and pursuing electric vehicle (EV), energy efficiency and expediting green mobility. Besides that, the aviation sector is also moving towards sustainability and the mandate is about 47%. This is a requirement of the international market and carbon capture, usage and storage (CCUS), as it targets three to six clusters in Sarawak with a storage capacity of at least 43 TNTP. Considering our objective in the energy sector, the estimated GHG reduction that Malaysia could achieve involves spreading out our CCS emissions by 2%, reducing them from 175 to 164. This entails utilizing approximately 5% of that reduction. However, we are dependent on other sectors of the economy, such as manufacturing and agriculture, and energy is the largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. It is worth noting that the iron and steel are also responsible for some of the regions where GHG emissions have shifted from coal to electricity, as electricity holds an important role in sourcing hydrogen injection and CCS.

Source: BIMB Securities Research - 13 Nov 2023