Indonesia’s Krakatau Osaka Steel expects to produce around 200,000 tonnes of rebar and angles in 2017, after commissioning the 500,000 tonnes/year plant at the end of January, the company reports. The $200 million investment was initially planned to start production in 2016, Kallanish notes.

The company, a joint venture between Japan’s Osaka Steel with an 80% share and Indonesia’s Krakatau Steel (20%), was first announced in 2014 and is one of several Krakatau joint ventures with Asian steelmakers. It expects eventually to produce up to 300,000 t/y of 8-50mm rebar and 200,000 t/y of steel angles.

Osaka Steel president Junji Uchida has noted that Krakatau already has agreements to supply angles to the state electricity company Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN), which is investing heavily in transmission infrastructure. It is estimated that Krakatau Osaka could supply up to 150,000 tonnes of steel through its Indonesian investor to PLN this year. Billet for rerolling will mainly be imported from Japan.