Posco has begun work to expand its stainless steel mill in Vietnam to meet growing demand in housing and infrastructure construction.
The company plans to triple production capacity of the Posco VST plant to 235kt/y by February 2012 and 285kt/y by 2014.
The plant in Dong Nai Province, is Vietnam’s only stainless steel cold rolling plant, and was established in October 2009 after the Korean firm acquired Asia Stainless Corp.
In the first stage of expansion a 100kt/y cold rolling mill and annealing equipment capable of processing 200kt/y will be added.
In the second stage, slated for completion in 2014, another 100kt/y cold rolling mill will be installed.
Once the expansion is complete, Posco VST will be Southeast Asia’s largest cold rolled stainless steel producer, the company said.
It added Southeast Asia’s cold rolled stainless steel output currently falls far short of demand, resulting in the majority of products being imported.
According to the steelmaker, 310kt/y of cold rolled stainless steel is produced in the region while demand stands at 660kt
Source: The Korea Herald
