Krakatau Steel to up steel output

Krakatau Steel to up steel output

JAKARTA: Indonesia's state-owned Krakatau Steel plans to increase its hot rolled coil steel plate production by one million tonnes a year by building new production facilities worth up to US$400 million, a report said on Thursday.

"The construction of the new plant is to anticipate increases in demand expected to reach 4.2 million tonnes in 2013," Krakatau Steel spokesman Alfauzi Salam told the Sinar Harapan evening newspaper.

Salam, who could not be immediately reached on Thursday, told the newspaper that the new plant would have an annual production capacity of about one million tonnes and would cost between $300 and $400 million to build.

Krakatau Steel currently produces 2.4 million tonnes of hot rolled coil and Salam said that he expected the new plant to begin producing in 2008 with construction expected to start in 2006.

He said that the new plant would be paid for out of earnings and asset sales, along with loans. -- AFP