Indonesia’s Aeon Company kicked-off its 700,000mt stainless steel cold rolling project, which is scheduled to begin trial production on Feb 15, 2022, according to China Special Steel Enterprise Association (CSSC). The SS project of Aeon is being jointly funded by China’s Tsingshan Group and Hongwang Group.
Chinese engineering company Wuhan Qianye will build the plant in collaboration with domestic electrical automation and equipment manufacturers. Stakeholders involved in the project are actively engaged in the design and manufacturing of the project to complete the task ahead of the trial production date of Feb 15, 2022.
Tsingshan Group is the world’s top producer of stainless steel and nickel with fully integrated operations including upstream mining and downstream manufacturing capacity for various grades and forms of stainless steel. The stainless steelmaker has a strong presence in Indonesia with a 3mn mt annual capacity ferronickel project. The company ships raw materials from its Indonesian plant to China for downstream processing. Hongwang Group is a major stainless steel enterprise that specializes in the manufacture of cold-rolled stainless steel coils and other products.
The Indonesian government is focused on increasing the consumption of nickel, a key component of stainless steel production, in the country rather than exporting nickel ore. Tsingshan investments in Indonesia bodes well for the country’s plan to become a manufacturing hub.