Baotou starts construction of CR sheet line
Chinese steel producer Baotou Iron & Steel Company has started the construction of cold rolled sheet line at its mill in Batou, Inner Mongolia, northern China. The cold rolled sheet line's annual capacity will be 1.4 million tons. The new line's production will be composed of 600'000 tons of cold rolled coil, 350'000 tons of hard coil, 300'000 tons of hot dipped galvanized coil and 150'000 tons of coated coil. The company is planning to complete the construction in 2.5 years, with a cost of Yuan 2.9 billion (approx. $347 million). The company produced 2.4 million tons of finished steel in the first six months of 2003, up by 13.8% compared to same period last year.