Chinese Wuhan reschedules CR mill upgrade
China's Wuhan Iron & Steel is once again behind its timetable for the maintenance shutdown and upgrade of its No.1 cold rolling mill. It was originally intended to start the upgrade in April, however the strong demand and rising domestic CR prices prevented the company to follow the schedule. The breakout of the SARS virus is now also one main concern for the Chinese steelmaker. According to information obtained from a representative of the company, the rescheduled period for the mill to start the upgrade is from June/July to last until September.
The purpose of the upgrade is to increase capacity at the cold rolling mill to 1.8-1.9 million ton per year, from the current annual capacity of 1.2 million. Wuhan plans to stock up cold rolled coil from other Chinese steelmakers and international mills during this three-month maintenance period.