OREANDA-NEWS. May 30, 2011. Guangzhou JFE Steel Sheet Co., Ltd (GJSS), a joint venture between JFE Steel Corporation and Guangzhou Iron and Steel Enterprises Holdings Ltd., has begun operating a new cold rolling mill as part of an integrated production system encompassing cold rolling to hot-dip galvanizing, which the company is constructing to meet the increasing demand for high-end steel in China.

In addition to the cold rolling mill (1.8 million tons/year), GJSS will add a continuous annealing line (1 million tons/year) and a second continuous galvanizing line (CGL, 400,000 tons/year) under a major expansion.

The cold rolling mill will enter commercial production in July after test operation. The continuous annealing line is slated to start operating in June and commercial production will begin in August, after which shipments of cold rolled steel sheet mainly for automobiles and electrical appliances will move into full gear.

When the No. 2 CGL is completed by around the end of the year, GJSS’s two CGLs will have a combined annual processing capacity of 800,000 tons.

The completion of the cold rolling mill was celebrated with a ceremony in Guangzhou today, joined by Eiji Hayashida, president of JFE Steel, and Zhang Ruosheng, chairman of Guangzhou Iron and Steel.

Going forward, GJSS, JFE Steel and Guangzhou Iron and Steel will cooperate in providing stable supplies of cold rolled steel sheet and hot-dip galvanized steel sheet to customers in China, particularly firms in the fast-growing automobile and electrical appliance industries.