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Baosteel Fired Up to Expand Production
With the completion of a large cold-rolled steel project, Baosteel, China's largest iron and steel group, will be able to provide the country's car makers with more quality steel, Saturday's Chinadaily reported.
Beginning in September 1999 with an investment of 8 billion yuan ($967.4 million), the project has an annual production capacity of 1.4 million tons, providing steel to make quality cars, including Passat, Buick and Audi, the best cars made in China.
The project also enables the Baosteel group to produce steel products used in electrical equipment.
With an ambition to become China's leading steel provider for homemade cars, Baosteel Iron and Steel Corp is expected to make 10,000 tons of steel for cars this year for Shanghai Volkswagen, a 50-50 joint venture between the Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp and Germany-based Volkswagen AG.
Statistics from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers indicate that approximately 1.02 million cars were made in China during the first six months of the year, up 14.8 per cent over the same period of 1999.
"That will end the dominance of imported steel for cars in the domestic market," said Meng Haibiao, spokesman of the Baosteel Group.
China plans to intensify efforts to improve its steel quality and ensure 82 per cent of cold-rolled steel used in sedans produced here is homemade. The current figure is only 50 per cent, with the remainder being imported from other countries including Japan and South Korea.
The project is also expected to raise the competitive edge of Baosteel's products ready for China's imminent entry into the World Trade Organization, industrial analysts said.
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