China Taiyuan Iron & Steel (Group) Co Ltd, the country’s second-largest stainless steel maker, will seek joint projects with local and international companies to help meet its goal of tripling production, chairman Gao Xiangming said.

Known as TISCO, the Shanxi-based company is now part of China Baowu Steel Group after the steel giant took a 51 per cent stake in TISCO last year as part of plans by China, the world’s biggest steel producer, to consolidate its industry.

TISCO wants to build the world’s biggest stainless steel platform and is seeking to triple output to 15 million tonnes by end-2023 from 4.19 million tonnes last year, rising to 18 million tonnes by end-2025.

Joint investment

“We will further communicate with domestic and international players and jointly invest in stainless steel projects under the premise of a win-win situation,” Gao, a delegate at the National People’s Congress in Beijing, said in a written response to Reuters questions.

The restructuring with Baowu Group has given TISCO better access to bigger markets in southern China and helped improve its competitiveness against its main rival, privately held Tsingshan Holding Group.

Tsingshan is the current top producer of stainless steel with an annual capacity of more than 10 million tonnes. It is also the biggest nickel producer in Indonesia and is set to develop an iron ore mine in Zimbabwe.

Gao said TISCO welcomed “healthy competition” and was optimistic about improving the overall development of the industry.

He said the firm will look to lower the cost of its products by optimising raw material and product structures, and through better technologies.

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