Nippon Steel to expand its blast furnace
Japanese steel producer Nippon Steel has announced that it plans to invest for the establishment of world's largest blast furnace, by expanding the current No.2 blast furnace at its Oita Works in Kyushu. The construction of the furnace, which is estimated to cost around Yen30 billion ($275 million), will commence in February 2004 and its completion will last three months. With the expansion of the furnace, the inner volume of the unit will increase by about 500 cubic meters, from the current 5245 cubic meters, which will enable the mill to produce 9 million tons of raw steel per annum. Current annual production capacity of the mill is 8 million tons.