Liuzhou Steel wide HRS&C put into production

Liuzhou Steel wide HRS&C put into production

Liuzhou Steel joined the likes of Baosteel and Wuhan Steel this past Sunday (October 16) as the company brought on stream its 2000mm wide hot rolled sheet and coil (HRS&C) production line. Liuzhou’s RMB 1.28 billion ($158 million) project, China’s third such wide HRS&C production line and Liuzhou’s largest technological improvement project during the tenth Five-year plan, boosts the company’s overall annual production capacity to six million tons. With the new production line, Liuzhou Steel will look to increase its flat products mix to nearly 50 percent. The company plans to produce 2 to 2.5 million tons of 2–25 mm thick, 600–1840mm wide steel annually. These products are widely used in the automotive sector and various light industries. The project began on September 12, 2004, and took 13 months to complete, the quickest time so far for such a project. The completion of this production line will be one of the factors that leads to a price reduction in the domestic market. Sources report that Liuzhou's technological restructuring investment from 2001-2005 totaled RMB 7.516 billion ($927 million), four times the amount seen during 1980–2000. Liuzhou Steel is the largest steelmaker in southern China’s Guangxi Province. Its sales revenue in 2004 was RMB 11.5 billion ($1.42 billion), placing it in the top 25 in China. In the first eight months of 2005, its crude steel and steel output was 2.8411 million tons and 2.5905 million tons, up 95.14 percent and 81.57 percent respectively. SteelOrbis Shanghai