April 23, 2008 -- Indonesian steel maker PT Krakatau Steel plans to build an integrated steel plant in South Kalimantan at a total cost of $600 million to meet demand for ingot steel. In the first phase of the project it will build a billet plant which is needed to make maximum use of the production capacity of the domestic ingot steel industry which currently reaches less than 60 per cent.
Indonesia still has to import semi-finished billets at higher prices to meet much of the country's demand for the commodity. Therefore, before the company builds an integrated steel industry in South Kalimantan it will focus on developing a billet plant with a production capacity of around 1 million tons per year. There is a target of completing a feasibility study on the construction of an integrated steel industry in South Kaliamantan in 2009 and in the next 30 months the construction of the plant will be completed.
Abstracted from Asia Pulse
