Chongqing Iron & Steel Group (Chong Gang) said that a new project to produce 4100mm steel plates will start operation in September and its first phase in Chong Gang New Area would reach an annual capacity of 6.5m tons by end of 2010. By then, the group is set to become the largest producer of shipbuilding steel in the country.

Last year, China’s shipbuilding industry produced 30m dwt-worth of vessels, using 12m tons of special steel. Chong Gang’s output of 2700mm steel plates exceeded 1m tons in 2008. This year, the production volumes of the shipbuilding industry are expected to reach 40m dwt, rising to 40m-50m dwt in 2010. Mr Dong Lin, the group’s chairman, hopes that his company will benefit from its capability to produce a wide range of steel products for the shipbuilding industry.

At the moment, shipyards in the Yangtze River Delta account for about 70 per cent of all the new builds in China. Steel plates larger than 3000mm cannot be transported by rail so the location of Chong Gang’s first phase production base on the Yangtze enables the group to transport any of its steel products to its customers along the river, said Mr Dong.