Indonesia-based steelmaker PT Krakatau Steel (Persero) Tbk (PT KS) has announced that it has signed an agreement with its subsidiary PT Krakatau Engineering and German plantmaker SMS Siemag for the construction of a 1.5 million mt hot strip mill.
With the new plant, Krakatau Steel aims to maintain the company's share in the hot rolled coil (HRC) market, enhance the competitiveness of products, and meet the needs of the domestic HRC market in particular for automotive steel products.
The new hot strip mill scheduled to be commissioned in 2017 will enable Krakatau Steel to increase its capacity from 2.4 million mt to 3.9 million tons.