Construction has started on Hebei Province-based Chinese steelmaker Ganglu Iron and Steel Co.'s new ferronickel alloy project which has a planned annual output capacity of one million mt, as announced by state-owned China Metallurgical Group Co. (MCC) on January 14. MCC subsidiary China 22MCC Group Co. will participate in the construction of the project located in Tanshan, Hebei. The total investment in the project is expected to be RMB 11 billion ($1.8 billion), while construction is expected to last four years. After completion, annual sales revenues are expected to total RMB 20 billion ($3.21 billion)

In the January-November period last year, Ganglu Steel's outputs of pig iron and crude steel amounted to 2.91 million mt and 2.92 million mt, up 0.82 percent and 1.8 percent year on year, respectively. Furthermore, in the given period the output of finished steel totaled 2.6 million mt, decreasing by 0.22 percent year on year.