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