KS Posco nearly completes $3b steel mill

PT Krakatau Posco, a joint venture between Indonesia's biggest steel maker PT Krakatau Steel (KRAS) and Korea's steel giant Posco, marked the final stage of the construction of its US$3 billion integrated steel facilities in Cilegon, Banten, with a coke oven plant heating up ceremony on Tuesday.

The US$357 million coke oven plant will annually produce 1.3 million tons of coke, which will serve as an energy source for the firm's steel plant, which is scheduled for operation in December.

"We hope KS Posco can meet its schedule to operate its steel plant as scheduled at the end of 2013, and this will spur growth in our downstream steel industry, providing high added value," Industry Minister MS Hidayat said at the ceremony.

The integrated steel facilities, which include a blast furnace and a sintering plant, represent the first part of a two-stage development project that KS Posco has planned, with a total investment commitment of $6 billion.

In the first stage, the mills will initially produce three million tons of steel slabs and plates to mainly meet domestic demand, thereby reducing imports.