China-based Huaye Special Steel has started production of finished stainless tube products after bringing its 60,000tpy stainless CR project on stream. The commissioning of the CR project comes after Huaye Special Steel started output at its 600,000tpy HR stainless strip mill in the first half of the year. The company had produced around 40,000tns of HR stainless by early November. Stainless output, mainly 304 and 201 grade, is processed on the company’s annealing and pickling lines, a company official said. Huaye Special Steel also has 600,000tpy of stainless slab capacity. It has started construction of a second plant, which is scheduled to be completed in 2008 and will take its design capacity to 1 million tpy of stainless slab, 500,000tpy of medium-width HR strip, 450,000tpy of CR strip and 300,000tpy of medium plate.
