China Steel to Expand No.1 Blast Furnace Capacity

China Steel Corporation (CSC) of Taiwan plans relining and expansion of no.1 blast furnace at Kaohsiung works in 2010-2011 for around 6.5 billion new Taiwan dollars. The firm tries to expand the output along with the renewal of old facility. The firm starts the works after commissioning of new integrated steel plant by the group company, Dragon Steel. CSC expands the blast furnace capacity to 2,600-2,700 cubic meters from current 2,434 cubic meters to increase the output by 200,000-300,000 tonnes to 2.3 million tonnes. The firm operates 4 blast furnaces at the Kaohsiung works and produces annual 10.5 million tonnes of steel. The firm tries to renew the upper stream operation facilities while the firm seeks higher valued added products for the down stream operations. The firm restarted the no.2 blast furnace in January 2006 after the expansion. The firm also modernized billet plant of electric furnace steel making to make annual 2 million tonnes stably. The firm will start operation of no.7 continuous slab caster with 2.9 million tonnes of annual output capacity in early 2009. The firm tries to improve the quality of slab after the expansion from current 8 million tonnes of capacity. The expansion of no.1 blast furnace is a part of renewal plan for upper stream operations. The firm expects the higher output capacity contributes to the better productivity.