Indonesian state-owned steel producer PT Krakatau Steel has announced its intention to build a new plate mill in its industrial estate in Cilegon, Banten Province.
The new plate mill, planned to be built next year, will have an annual capacity of 1.5 million mt and will allow Krakatau Steel to produce steel plates for the shipbuilding industry of 60 mm in thickness and 3.5 mm in width.
In order to finance the project, the company expects to raise about Rupiah 5 trillion (approx. $533 million) in funds through an initial public offering which is to be launched in November 2008.
Moreover, in line with Krakatau Steel's strategy to increase its annual capacity to 2.4 million mt, the company plans next year to install at its Cilegon steelworks a mini-blast furnace with a capacity of 500,000 mt per year of hot metal and also a slab mill with a capacity of one million mt per year.
Krakatau Steel also owns a 66 percent stake in the Meratus Jaya Iron Steel joint venture with PT Aneka Tambang for the construction of a 315,000 mt per year capacity iron ore plant. The construction is scheduled to start in November of the current year.