History

China Steel's operating subsidiary, Linyi Yilida Steel, was incorporated under the laws of the People's Republic of China in January 2004

After the first Blast Furnace and Sintering Facility (BF1) was ready in late 2004, Linyi Yilida Steel commenced operations as a producer of Pig Iron.

In 2006, nickel prices started to surge due to huge demand from China and China's nickel supply was affected. An opportunity surfaced when Chinese stainless steel producers realised that they needed an alternative supply to nickel.

In January 2006, Linyi Yilida Steel was one of the first few to began production of nickel pig iron.

China Steel is currently in the top 10 nickel pig iron producers in China and its BF1 facility has been running at full capacity of approximately 45,000 tonnes per year since 2006.

On 30 April 2009, the company completed a plant upgrade and conversion to enable it to expand its product range and to also produce merchant pig iron for the domestic chinese market.

Future

Demand for nickel pig iron is expected to remain strong, and China Steel hopes to increase production capacity in order to increase revenue and win new contacts.

To achieve this goal, China Steel embarked on plans to expand the Linyi Plant with the construction of its second Blast Furnace and Sintering Facility (BF2) in 2007.

Production capacity of BF2 is estimated to be at least 135,000 tonnes of nickel pig iron per year.

Upon completion, China Steel will be the one of the largest producer of nickel pig iron in China with a combined production capacity of BF1 and BF2 of at least 180,000 tonnes of nickel pig iron per year.