Zhangjiagang Pohang Stainless Steel, a China-based stainless steel subsidiary of POSCO, on Monday completed the facility expansion project that pushes up its annual production capacity to 1 million metric tons.

Located in Zhangjiagang, Jiangsu Province, Zhangjiagang Pohang Stainless Steel or ZPSS is 82.5 percent held by POSCO. The remaining 17.5 percent is held by China’s Shagang Group. POSCO also said that ZPSS is likely to meet the requirements for being listed on the Chinese market after 2013.

According to POSCO, ZPSS is the first foreign-invested company operating in China to have 1 million ton production capacity.

With the completion of the works, the POSCO’s overall stainless production capacity rises to 3 million tons.

The added production capacity comes from a 400,000-ton dephosphating furnace that allows the company to raise the use of nickel pig iron, POSCO said. According to POSCO, nickel pig iron is cheaper than other sources of nickel but due to its high phosphate content requires a dephosphating step.

Along with the rise in crude stainless steel capacity, the company’s annual production capacity for cold-rolled stainless steel was also raised to 600,000 tons from 400,000 tons.

By Choi He-suk  (cheesuk@heraldcorp.com)