On October 21, Jiangsu Province-based Shagang held a ceremony to mark the start of production operations at its new 5,800 m3 blast furnace, built on the back of a total investment of RMB 1.8 billion ($263,59 million), and also for the laying of the foundation stone for its 3,500 mm medium plate project. Shagang, which is the largest private steel enterprise in China, has entered this year's Fortune 500 list at No. 444.
Shagang is starting construction work on the abovementioned 3,500 mm medium plate project for the purpose of optimizing its product structure. With a total investment of RMB 3.8 billion ($556.46 million), the project will create an additional medium plate production capacity of 1.5 million mt and make Shagang one of the world's important production bases for flat rolled products.