JAPANESE PARTNERS TO JOIN CHINA'S ERDOS ON SiMn PLANT

摘要

TOKYO - JFE Steel and Mitsui & Co have announced they are establishing a joint venture with China's Erdos Group Corp to build and manage a silico-manganese plant in Inner Mongolia. Erdos, a textiles conglomerate that only entered the ferro-alloys business ten months ago, will hold a 51-percent share of Erdos Manganese Alloys, with JFE Steel and Mitsui holding 24.5 percent each. The three-stage plant will be located in the Qipangjing area of Inner Mongolia and will ultimately boast a capacity of 150,000 tpy of silico-manganese, some 100,000 tpy of which will be supplied to the JFE Group, comprising the integrated giant and its EAF subsidiaries including Daiwa Steel and NKK Bars & Shapes. The project will begin with the commissioning of two 25,500 KVA electric furnaces by June 2005 that will be formally commissioned by the following August, JFE said, producing 75,000 tpy. Of this, about 50,000 tpy will be shipped to Japan and the balance sold within China and to other customers within Asia including Korea. Within the following year another two identical furnaces will be added, doubling capacity by the end if 2006.