E-United Group plans to invest in nickel mining

Taiwan ?s leading stainless steel maker E-United Group said that it has signed a letter of intention with a major mining group in Indonesia for investing NT$10 billion in nickel mining and a nickel-iron alloy plant.

A manager of E-United Group as quoted by cens.com said that output of the projected nickel-mining operation in Indonesia will be supplied to the nickel-iron alloy plant in Fujian directly.

Ranking officials of E-United Group are talking with the Indonesia counterpart for details of the project.

Yieh United Steel Corp. a subsidiary of E-United Group, is Taiwan?s largest stainless steel plant, with annual capacity of 1 million metric tons. Lianzhong Stainless Steel Material Co., Ltd. Guangdong is a 100 percent-owned subsidiary of Yieh United, boasting annual capacity of 200 metric tons. The combined capacity of 3 million metric tons is the third largest in Asia and accounts for 10 percent of the global stainless-steel output of 33 million metric tons. E-United Group racks up annual sales of NT$150 billion for stainless steel alone.

In recent years, E-United Group has been actively extending its reach to the upstream sector, as evidenced by the investment of US$320 million (NT$9.6 billion) in building a nickel-iron alloy plant in Ningde of Fujian Province. The direct investment in nickel mining will enable the group to secure supply of raw material and strengthen the competitiveness of its stainless steel in the world market.(*)