Acerinox S.A. and Nisshin Steel have decided, after having carried out a feasibility study and considering various alternatives, to build a new stainless steel production plant in Malaysia. It will be located in Johor Bahru (Malaysia), in a 350 acres land by the sea. The plant will be constructed with high efficiency criteria, similar to those of North American Stainless in Ghent (Kentucky, USA), owned by Acerinox. The new plant will be constructed in successive stages and in the last one it will be an integrated stainless steel production plant, with a melting capacity of 1 million Mt/yr and 600,000Mt/yr of cold rolled production. The estimated total investment amounts to USD 1500 million. The first stage, which will total USD 320 million, already approved, will consist of a cold rolling mill with a 1500mm width Sendzimir, a combined annealing and pickling line, a skinpass and a finishing shop. Its production capacity will amount to 240,000Mt/yr, out of which 182,000Mt/yr will be cold rolled production. Its construction will start immediately after having finished the legal proceedings. The put into operation is forecasted for 2011.
