Taiyuan Steel aims to be stainless king

Taiyuan Steel aims to be stainless king

China's largest stainless steelmaker, Taiyuan Iron and Steel Group Company (Taiyuan Steel), recently launched a project that the company hopes will allow it to compete with the global stainless steel heavy weights. Taiyuan Steel's RMB 30 billion ($3.7 billion) project will add 1.5 million tons of annual stainless capacity to the group. The Bank of China and the State Development Bank will finance RMB 10 billion ($1.23 billion) of the project's cost. The new mill, which will be built in the city of Taiyuan in Shanxi Province, will begin preliminary operation by the end of 2006. It should be operating at full capacity by 2008. Taiyuan Steel has ambitions to be the largest stainless steel producer in the world and to be able to meet one third of China's domestic stainless steel consumption.