German plantmaker SMS Meer has announced that it will supply a semi-continuous billet mill for Formosa Ha Tinh Steel, the new integrated steel plant Taiwan-based Formosa Group is building in Ha Tinh Province, Vietnam.
The produced billets will be used within the Formosa Group as feedstock for wire rod and bar production. With the mill, Formosa Ha Tinh Steel will be able to use continuously cast billets as well as rolled billets for the downstream process. Thereby, Formosa Ha Tinh Steel is gaining quality and flexibility in producing high-quality special bar quality (SBQ) steel products.
The new mill scheduled to be commissioned in 2015 will produce 160 mm and 180 mm square billets with a maximum production capacity of 1 million mt per year. It is possible to increase the production capacity up to 2 million mt per year in a second expansion phase.
As SteelOrbis previously reported, Formosa Group has invested in the FMG Iron Bridge Project, an iron ore joint venture with Australia-based Fortescue Metals Group and will purchase up to three million mt of iron ore from the project at market prices each year to supply its new integrated steel mill with an annual steel production capacity of 22 million mt.