Market participants say this would be feasible for the province because it is rich in coal and iron ore resources.

Hoa Phat steel sales hit 457,000 tonnes in April.

BHP is looking into initiatives to grow its iron ore production to 300 million tonnes per annum.

The head of diversified miner BHP, Mike Henry, has highlighted the massive investment required in the resources sector to meet global decarbonising efforts.

Iron-ore futures wobbled on Friday and were on track for weekly losses due to waning optimism over prospects for demand recovery in top steel producer and metals consumer China, with additional pressure from rebounding supplies from Australia and Brazil.

Thailand's economy expanded 2.7% in the first quarter from a year earlier, official data showed on Monday, faster than expectations, as private consumption and tourism rebounded.

In the week ending on May 6, 2023, US domestic raw steel production was 1,712,000 net tons while the capability utilization rate was 76.1 percent.

Mining and commodities giant Glencore (LON: GLEN) has joined forces with Canada's Li-Cycle Holdings (NYSE: LICY) to build a battery recycling plant in Italy, set to become Europe's largest facility of this kind.