China's Baoshan Steel Starts Zhanjiang Mill Amid Falling Prices
- Company ignites No. 1 blast furnace at flagship project
- Steel prices dropping as slowdown in China curbs consumption
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Baoshan Iron & Steel Co. started production at its new project in China’s southern port city of Zhanjiang even as steel prices plunge amid sluggish demand in the country, which is facing its slowest pace of economic growth in 25 years.
The No. 1 blast furnace of the project, designed to have an annual capacity of 4.1 million metric tons of melted iron, was ignited Sept. 25, the company, China’s biggest publicly traded steelmaker, said in a filing to the Shanghai Stock Exchange on Sunday. The project will be fully operational a year later with an expected annual crude steel production of 8.75 million tons, it said. It usually takes three to six months of trial production before a new steel mill begins commercial operation.