Eight steel companies to invest $3 billion

As many as eight steel companies plan to invest a combined US$3 billion until 2017 to expand existing plants and develop new ones to meet growing demand in the country, where sales volume last year totaled 14.3 million tons, of which import accounted for 8.4 million tons, Investor Daily reported on Tuesday.

Citing data from South East Asia Iron and Steel Institute, and interviews, the paper said that the eight companies include PT Growth Sumatera Industry (GSI), PT Indoferro, PT Gunung Raja Paksi, PT Essar Indonesia, PT Sulawesi Mining Investment, PT Krakatau Steel Tbk (KS), PT Krakatau Nippon Steel Sumikin, and PT Krakatau Osaka Steel.

Business Development Director of Growth Steel Group (GSG) Jonatan Handojo was quoted as saying that his company is modifying three electric arc furnaces to produce nickel pig iron, a raw material for stainless steel production, with a combined capacity of 240,000 tons per year, with total investment of about $50 million.

Growth Steel Group (GSG), which is the parent of PT Growth Sumatera Industry (GSI), is also planning to develop pa $50 million sinter plant.

GSG subsidiary PT Indoferro, Handojo said, is also planning to develop its second nickel pig iron plant this year. The $160 million plant, which will have a capacity of 100,000 tons per year, is expected to be completed next year. Afterward, Indoferro will develop 2 million-ton per year stainless steel plant with investment of about $700 million.

?The total investment to be made by Indoferro to develop an integrated steel plant from upstream to downstream is about $1 billion,? Handojo told the paper. (*)