On May 16, Tianjin, China-based Tianjin Metallurgical No. 3 Steel & Youfa Iron and Steel Corp.'s blast furnace No. 2, designed by Huatian Engineering and Technology Co., a subsidiary of China Metallurgical Group Co. (MCC), successfully produced its first molten iron, as announced by MCC.
Tianjin Metallurgical No. 3 Steel & Youfa Iron and Steel Corp. is a joint venture of state-owned Tianjin Metallurgy Group and Tianjin-based Youfa Iron and Steel Co. With the commissioning of its new blast furnace, the company now has two 1,260 m3 blast furnaces with a combined annual output capacity of 2.4 million mt. The blast furnace No. 1 was commissioned on December 9, 2012.