.png)
The Star Online – Thursday, 18 June 2015 By JACK WONG KUCHING: Sarawak Cable Bhd plans to increase power cable exports to 30%-40% from the current 20% of total production and to achieve sales of RM1bil this year.
Group managing director Aaron Toh Chee Ching said Australia and Singapore were Sarawak Cable’s key export markets for the 132kV underground high-voltage cables which the group had also been exporting to New Zealand and the Middle East.
“Because of the strong US dollar, we are focusing on the export markets for the 132kV underground power cables which give us much higher profit margin than that of the 11kV and 33kV medium voltage power cables.
“We are marketing our newly-launched 275kV power cables particularly to markets in Australia and Singapore which need to replace their 33kV and 132kV underground power cables to cater for the increasing demand for electricity,” he told StarBiz after the company AGM yesterday.
Sarawak Cable, the sole manufacturer of the 275kV underground power cables in Malaysia, targets to commercialise the production of the high-voltage new cables in the second half of 2015. The manufacturing facilities and capabilities of Sarawak Cable received a major boost after the company acquired Leader Cable Industry Bhd and Universal Cable (M) Bhd last December for RM210mil. The group now owns eight manufacturing plants in Penang, Johor, Negri Sembilan, Selangor and Sarawak, the facilities of which are under 100%-owned Universal Cable (Sarawak) Sdn Bhd.
Toh said before Sarawak Cable acquired Leader Cable and Universal Cable, it recorded about RM200mil in sales of power and telecom cables last year. Leader Cable and Universal Cable, which have established overseas networks, registered combined average annual sales of RM800mil.
Toh said the group was in negotiation with a prominent Indonesian group to export 132kV cables to Jarkata which was using overhead power cables in transmission. He hoped Sarawak Cable, which had bid for power transmission line projects in Indonesia, could penetrate this new market that offered immense growth potential in the second half. Sarawak Cable has formed specialised teams to push for the sales of the power cables in the global market.
Domestically, Toh said Sarawak Cable was in advanced negotiations with the developer of Petronas’ Pengerang Integrated Petroleum Complex project in Johor to use the 275kV underground power cables for the project covering some 8,100ha. “They are receptive to use the underground instead of overhead high-voltage power cables. The entire complex will require 100km long of 275kV power cables (if chosen over overhead cables),” according to Toh.
He said Sarawak Cable had come up with new products, like thermal-resistant aluminium alloy conductors steel reinforced conductors, which were lighter, more efficient and could reduce energy loss of up to 40% in transmission compared with the conventional alloy conductors steel reinforced conductors.