The groundbreaking ceremony for the iron-making plant of Baosteel Zhanjiang Iron and Steel Co. has been held in Zhanjiang, Guangdong, as announced by Chinese steelmaker Baoshan Iron and Steel (Baosteel) on October 21. The ceremony marks the official start of construction work on the iron-making plant project.
Within the scope of the project, two 5,000 m3 blast furnaces and auxiliary facilities will be built. The iron-making plant, covering an area of 426,200 square meters, will have an annual molten iron output capacity of 8.23 million mt.
Phase one of Baosteel's Zhanjiang steel base project will produce 8.23 million mt of molten iron, 8.71 million mt of crude steel and 6.37 million mt of finished steel. The estimated investment in the phase one project will be around RMB 40 billion ($6.56 billion).
Guangdong is an area of high concentration of the automotive and appliance sectors, with the steel demand for these sectors in Guangdong mainly met by transporting steel produced in the north of China down to the south. Baosteel currently sells significant quantities of steel to Guangdong and other areas in southern China. Baosteel's Zhanjiang steel base project is expected to result in reduced production and logistics costs and is expected to improve customer service.