Posted on 07 Jan 2011
Northern China's Anshan Iron & Steel (Angang) has recently started commercial production on its grainoriented silicon steel mill after some 18 months of testing. This makes Angang the third Chinese steel mill that can produce GO silicon products after Wuhan Iron & Steel (Wugang) and Baosteel. Angang began to plan its first GO silicon facility in mid-2006 and started construction in late 2007. Although the mill had been on hot trials since mid-2009, commercial production did not begin until recently, an Angang official tells Steel Business Briefing.
The mill has a production capacity of 100,000 tonnes/year. However, it is only expected to produce about 30,000-40,000 tonnes of GO sheet this year as time is still needed to perfect the technology, SBB understands. Angang also has existing non grain-oriented silicon steel mills with a total capacity of around 800,000 t/y that are currently running at full operation.
Meanwhile, Angang has developed a plan to build a second GO facility with a similar capacity to its first. However, the construction timetable for the second mill is still unavailable as the company is currently focusing on increasing the No.1 mill's production.
Among the Chinese steel mills in the GO silicon market, Wugang remains the biggest producer with a 440,000 t/y production capacity, while Baosteel has a 100,000 t/y GO silicon capacity. In 2010, Wugang produced about 400,000 t of GO sheets while Baosteel's output was expected to reach 90,000 t.
