Xin Ke Yuan cleared to reopen but steel safety concerns persist
Xin Ke Yuan Steel has been cleared to resume operations in Rayong, but questions remain over steel quality after the SAO building collapse
The Department of Industrial Works has allowed Xin Ke Yuan Steel Co Ltd to resume full operations at its Rayong steel plant after inspections found that the company had completed required improvements, particularly to its air-pollution collection and treatment systems.
The order, dated June 5, 2026, allows the company to continue manufacturing steel bars at its plant in the Hemaraj Rayong Industrial Estate in Nong Lalok subdistrict, Ban Khai district, Rayong province.
Xin Ke Yuan Steel had earlier been ordered to suspend all factory operations while it carried out seven corrective measures within a specified timeframe. Officials later inspected the company’s improvements under the Factory Act B.E. 2535.
According to the department, officials inspected the final outstanding item, the air-pollution collection and treatment system, on March 18, 2026. Air samples discharged from the factory were then collected on April 7 and sent for laboratory analysis.
The test results confirmed that air contaminants released from the plant complied with the standards set under the Industry Ministry’s 2021 announcement on air-contaminant limits for factories producing reinforced steel bars and steel billets for reinforced steel bars.
As a result, Araya Sailaiphet, deputy director-general of the Department of Industrial Works, acting for the permanent secretary of the Industry Ministry, issued an order under Section 39, paragraph two, of the Factory Act B.E. 2535, allowing Xin Ke Yuan Steel to resume all factory operations from the date the order was received.
MP calls for strict checks after SAO building collapse
The decision has drawn fresh scrutiny because Xin Ke Yuan Steel was linked to steel used in the State Audit Office building that collapsed during the 2025 earthquake.
Athavit Suwanpakdee, a party-list MP from the United Thai Nation Party, questioned the decision in a Facebook post, asking whether the company now had a ladle furnace for refining molten steel.
He urged authorities to conduct random inspections during actual commercial production, rather than relying only on scheduled machinery tests.
Athavit said IF-type steel bars required strong quality control and that production standards could be better maintained when a ladle furnace was used. If low-quality scrap metal was melted, he warned, the quality of the finished steel could become inconsistent.
He said that during his work as chairman of the advisory team to the industry minister, he found that Xin Ke Yuan did not have a ladle furnace. He also questioned whether old steel stocks from the period when quality-control problems remained unresolved would now be released for sale.
“Steel is the main structure of houses and buildings. Safety must be 100% and standards must not change,” he said.
The case remains sensitive because of wider public concern over construction-material standards following the collapse of the State Audit Office building.
Although the department’s latest order focuses on factory compliance and pollution-control improvements, Atavit’s comments underline continuing concerns over product quality once the plant returns to normal production.
