Guangdong Province-based Chinese producer Guangzhou Steel Group has decided to postpone the start of operations at its 1.8 million mt cold rolled plate project to the end of 2011. The project had been scheduled to be put into production in June 2010.
The construction of the 1.8 million mt cold rolling line is being carried out by Japanese steelmaker JFE Steel and Chinese producer Guangzhou Steel Group through their 50/50 percent joint venture Guangzhou JFE Steel Plate Co. Ltd, with a total investment of RMB 6.349 billion ($929.86 million).
With the new production line, Guangzhou Steel will reach an annual output of 2.2 million mt of cold rolled plate, thus becoming the largest cold rolled plate production base in China.