SteelOrbis Shanghai
In the first half of 2008, Chinese steelmaker Baotou Steel recorded iron production of 4.5807 million mt, up 6.39 percent; its steel production registered at 4.673 million mt, up 10.08 percent; while its semi-finished product output hit 4.4496 million mt, up 10.63 percent, all compared with the same period last year and all constituting record historical highs.
In H1 2008, Baotou produced 1.3391 million mt of hot rolled coil, 722,700 mt of cold rolled Full Hard, 359,600 mt of skin pass coils, 170,700 mt of galvannealed strip, 36,000 mt of cold rolled sheets, 396,400 mt of seamless tubes, 71,100 mt of OCTG and 405,600 mt of railway steels, among which skin pass coils, OCTG and railway steel registered a significant increase compared with the same period last year.
During the period in question, Baotou's average furnace utilization rate reached 2.053, while its coke ratio in the blast furnace registered at 432.68kg, with a blast furnace coal injection rate of 119.45 kg. Meanwhile, its mixed iron concentrate grade reached 65.54 percent, up 0.09 percentage points year on year; while the comprehensive iron concentrate grade is 65.93 percent. In addition, the comprehensive continuous casting productivity rate of converter furnace is 98.39 percent, up 0.97 percentage points year on year.
In H1 2008, exports of Baotou's semi-finished products totaled 573,400 mt, bringing in $410 million in foreign currency, up $103 million compared with the same period last year.