Hunan Province-based Chinese steel producer Xiangtan Iron and Steel (Xiangtan Steel), a subsidiary of Valin Steel Group, has announced that its E550 and E690 ultra-high strength shipbuilding and offshore engineering steel plate has been approved for certification by classification societies in the US, Norway, Germany and China.
The steel plate product is mainly applied in offshore oil drilling projects. To date, no other steel producer in China has been granted this certification.
At present, Xiangtan Steel has a five-meter wide and thick plate line and two 3.8-meter wide and thick plate lines, with a total annual production capacity of 5 million mt. In 2011, Xiangtan Steel produced over 2 million mt of shipbuilding and offshore engineering steel plate, with a total value of RMB 12 billion ($1.9 billion).