INTRODUCTION

1. Guest of Honour, Minister of State for Trade and Industry, Ms Low Yen Ling, our strategic partner Enterprise Singapore, event partners Fastmarkets, S&P Global Commodity Insights and TradeWinds, sponsors, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, good morning.

2. A very warm welcome to Singapore International Ferrous Week 2023.  Thank you for joining us at this flagship event for the steel value chain.

3. As many of you will know, this is the tenth year that SGX Commodities is running this week-long conference, formerly known as the Iron Ore Week.  With your strong support, what started off as a single forum focused on iron ore, has now evolved into one of the most important gatherings for the global steelmaking value chain, across iron ore, steel, coking coal and shipping markets.  

4. As we kick off this week, I want to take a moment to share my quick thoughts on the trends that are shaping the industry.

SUSTAINABILITY

5. First, and not surprisingly, sustainability. Sustainability continues to be a recurring theme in all commodity forums. While steel is the world’s most important engineering and construction material with few known substitutes, the industry is often seen as a significant contributor to global emissions, currently accounting for about 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions.

6. The sector has been ramping up efforts to reduce its carbon footprint, through sustainable mining practices, energy-efficient production processes and the substitution with “greener” raw materials and energy sources.

7. I am encouraged by the industry’s decarbonisation efforts, and am confident of the steel industry’s strong leadership in the global green transition.

8. For SGX Group, as a trusted international marketplace, we believe we are in a unique position to facilitate collaboration within the ecosystem, to catalyse change and support markets and businesses on their sustainability journey. 

9. We are a founding signatory of the Net Zero Financial Service Providers alliance, and a member of the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ), the world’s largest coalition of financial institutions, committed to the global economy net zero transition.

10. In this capacity, we proactively engage partners and stakeholders in our ecosystem, steer challenging but important conversations on sustainable capital allo...