Hebei Iron & Steel Group builds new steel plant in Africa

The Chinese metallurgical company Hebei Iron & Steel Group, the largest metal producer in the country, plans to expand its own production capacity in the near future through the construction of a new plant in the Republic of South Africa.

In particular, at the moment the company has already signed an agreement for the acquisition of 51 percent of the shares of one of the joint ventures in the territory of the African state owned by the China-Africa Development Fund and Industrial Development Corp. of South Africa.



The new plant, after reaching its design capacity, should become the largest asset of Hebei Iron & Steel Group located outside of China. In total, the plant in South Africa is expected to produce up to 5 million tonnes of structural steels annually. Of this amount, about 3 million tons will fall on long products of various shapes and standard sizes, and the remaining 2 million tons on steel sections.

The construction itself will be divided into two phases. The first stage will be the construction of workshops for the production of long products. It is planned to complete the work of this stage in 2017. The second stage will be the construction of facilities for the production of steel sections. Initial plans envisage that this part of the construction will be fully completed in 2019, after which the plant will reach its design capacity.

Construction work on the site is expected to begin next year. The total investment of the Chinese metallurgical giant in the construction of the South African plant has not been disclosed.