Spanish stainless steel producer Acerinox has announced that its Malaysian factory Bahru Stainless has commenced processing activity, with the first coil at its finishing lines being processed on December 2 this year.
The first investment phase of $370 million will be completed with the commissioning of the cold rolling mill in the summer of 2011. The annual production capacity in Bahru Stainless' first phase will reach 240,000 mt, while in the second phase, the production capacity is planned to reach 400,000 mt, combined with the first phase production.
In its last stage, the Bahru Stainless project will be an integrated stainless steel factory with a melting capacity of one million mt and a cold rolling capacity of 600,000 mt.
The total investments already approved for the first and second phases amount to $680 million.
Bahru Stainless is a subsidiary company of Acerinox Group (67 percent stake of the share capital), which has been incorporated with the shareholding of Japanese steelmaker Nisshin Steel (30 percent stake) and Metal One (three percent stake).