14/03/2025

FRIDAY | MAR 14, 2025

16

BIZ & FINANCE

Pulau Indah power plant begins operation people; consequently, energy demand in Malaysia is set to increase significantly.

Asia Poly to supply eco-friendly material to Sumitomo unit KUALA LUMPUR: Asia Poly Holdings Bhd’s 35% associate, EcoGreen Monomer Sdn Bhd, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Sumitomo Corp Asia & Oceania Pte Ltd (SCAO) to supply depolymerised methyl methacrylate monomer (DMMA) to the latter for the paint and glue industry. Via this MoU, Sumitomo will purchase a minimum quantity of 2,000 tonnes of DMMA per month from EcoGreen. The DMMA will be packed in ISO tanks of 22 tonnes per unit. The pricing of each unit will be subject to the global industry benchmark of MMA on a weekly basis. Sumitomo intends to sell and market EcoGreen’s DMMA to European countries, US, Japan, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia and India. DMMA is an eco-friendly raw material used to manufacture acrylic plastics. It is produced from recycling used or waste acrylic products, in contrast to MMA, which is derived from petrochemical processes. The terms of this MoU will commence one month from the date of signing. SCAO is a leading integrated trading and investment solutions provider. It is also a subsidiary of the Sumitomo Corporation Group, a Fortune Global 500 conglomerate engaged in businesses across various sectors. Built on Amazon Bedrock and featuring a leading large language model, this revolutionary solution harnesses the full potential of AWS’s industry-leading cloud infrastructure. Maxis unveils Gen AI-driven concierge service PETALING JAYA: Maxis, Malaysia’s integrated telco, has introduced Mia (Maxis Intelligent Assistant), an innovative generative artificial intelligence (Gen AI) powered concierge service for business customers. Designed to simplify customer experience on the Maxis Business Hub (MBH) digital self-serve portal, Mia combines conversational AI with intelligent workflow automation to deliver seamless roaming service management for businesses. Mia represents a leap forward in AI-driven solutions by Maxis Business, Maxis’ B2B arm, as an intelligent, guided chatbot service offering 24/7 instant roaming support, smart recommendations and personalised suggestions. Maxis chief enterprise business officer, Prateek Pashine said: “Maxis Business is pioneering Gen AI adoption in the B2B space, harnessing its transformative capabilities that have already redefined many B2C customer experiences today. “Mia demonstrates our commitment to leveraging AI as an enabler of innovation. “By integrating Mia into our digital experiences, we create a seamless and intuitive interface that empowers customers to manage their services and needs. “Equipped with contextual intelligence, Mia understands user intent and interactions, enhancing the overall customer experience. We will continue to expand Mia’s functionality and capabilities, further reinforcing our dedication to delivering world-class customer service to businesses.” Mia is a breakthrough in generative AI innovation, powered by cutting-edge AWS technology.

including a 9HA.01 gas turbine, an STF-D650 steam turbine, a W88 generator and a Once Through Heat Recovery Steam Generator (OT HRSG). Overall plant performance will be monitored and enhanced with GE Vernova’s tightly integrated Mark VIe Distributed Control System (DCS) software to help improve asset visibility, reliability, and availability while reducing operation and maintenance costs. In addition, data collected from sensors throughout the facility will be monitored and analyzed 24/7 at GE Vernova’s Monitoring & Diagnostics (M&D) Center in Greenville, SC, United States. “We are proud to add this plant to the 116 units operating globally, and that have amassed more than three million commercial operating hours, the equivalent capacity needed to power more than 50 million US homes,” said GED Vernova president and CEO of Asia Ramesh Singaram. “With more than 40 years of operations and the largest base of installed gas turbines in the country, GE Vernova is uniquely qualified to support Malaysia’s energy transition, while helping meet the growing power demand in the country.”

o Facility projected to produce electricity needed for 2.5 million homes PETALING JAYA: GE Vernova Inc announced yesterday that the Pulau Indah power plant, developed by Selangor state-linked company Worldwide Holding Bhd (WHB), has started operation. Powered by two-blocks of GE Vernova HA combined cycle equipment, the new 1,200 megawatts (MW) plant is projected to produce the equivalent electricity needed to power approximately 2.5 million homes in Malaysia. In addition, under the terms of a 21-year agreement, GE Vernova is expected to provide maintenance services and software solutions to improve asset visibility, reliability, and availability of the plant. Over the next three decades, the Malaysian economy is estimated to triple in size, while its population is projected to rise to over 40 million Year-on-year comparison showed that the production of NR increased by 0.2% (January 2024: 30,287 tonnes). Production of NR in January 2025 for Malaysia was mainly contributed by smallholders sector (87.0%) as compared to estates sector (13.0%). Total stocks of NR in January 2025 increased by 6.0% to 177,936 tonnes as compared to 167,801 tonnes in December 2024. Rubber processors factory contributed 87.5% of the stocks followed by rubber consumers factory (12.4%) and rubber estates (0.1%). Exports of Malaysia’s NR amounted to 44,337.6 tonnes in January 2025, decreased 0.001% as against December 2024 (44,337.8 tonnes). China remained as the main destination for NR exports which accounted 43.6% of total exports in January 2025 followed by Germany (11.1%), the United Arab Emirates (9.3%), the United States (7.6%) and Portugal (3.0%). The exports performance was contributed by NR-based product such as gloves, tyre, tube and rubber thread. Gloves were the main exports of rubber-based products with a value of RM1.4 billion in January 2025, a decrease of 8.1% as compared to December 2024 (RM1.5 billion). Analysis of the average monthly price showed that Concentrated Latex recorded a decrease of 3.0% (January 2025: 678.42 sen per kg; December 2024: 699.35 sen per kg) while Scrap decreased by 1.9% (January 2025: 743.27 sen per kg; December 2024: 757.28 sen per kg). Trend of prices for all Standard Malaysian Rubber (S.M.R) decreased between 1.6% and 3.0%. The World Bank Commodity Price Data reported the prices for TSR 20 (Technically Specified Rubber) has decreased 3.1 per cent (from US$1.99/kg to US$1.93/kg) and SGP/MYS (Singapore/Malaysia) decreased 0.6 % (from US$2.38/kg to US$2.37/kg). According to the Malaysia Rubber Board Digest published in January 2025, the Kuala Lumpur Rubber Market displayed a mixed trend

Malaysia has announced its aim to reach net-zero emissions by as early as 2050 – reflected in its latest National Energy Policy – and continues to refine a long-term lower emission development strategy. At the core of the plant, the two 9HA gas turbines, engineered from the ground up to be extremely flexible, feature high ramp rates and fast start up times to help meet fluctuating demand. In addition, the HA unit has the capability to burn up to 50% by volume of hydrogen when blended with natural gas. Natural gas has become an increasingly popular option for electricity generation in Malaysia due to increased availability and the fact that it emits less CO2 and other pollutants than coal. Gas power plants can also be turned on or off relatively easily, which allows for greater flexibility in dealing with demand peaks or low supply from renewable sources. For the Pulau Indah Power Plant, GE Vernova provided two blocks of 600 MW, each

Natural rubber production down 20.8% in January PUTRAJAYA: Natural Rubber (NR) production decreased by 20.8% in January 2025 (30,342 tonnes) as compared to December 2024 (38,299 tonnes) said Chief Statistician of Malaysia Datuk Sri Dr. Mohd Uzir Mahidin.

in tandem with the regional rubber futures markets owing to uneven economic performance of the US and China.

The market faced downward pressure from the strengthening of ringgit against the US dollar and declining crude oil prices.