International Technology Group Andritz received an order from JIUQUAN Iron & Steel Co. Ltd., China for the supply of a complete plant for the manufacture of cold-rolled stainless steel strip with an annual capacity of approximately 600,000 tons.

The order comprises:

• a direct rolling annealing and pickling line with integrated 6-high cold-rolling mill
• a continuous annealing and pickling line
• two 20-high cold-rolling mills
• a skinpass mill
• a grinding line
• two edge trimming and dividing lines

The Andritz Group is in charge of engineering, supply of the key components, supervision of installation and start-up of the various parts of the plant.

The order will be processed by Andritz affiliates in Austria, Germany and the Netherlands, all belonging to the Rolling Mills and Strip Processing Lines Business Area. Start-up of the plant is scheduled for the First Quarter of 2007.

The stainless steel plant processes hot-rolled strip up to a thickness of 6 mm and with a maximum width of 1,600 mm to cold-rolled strip with a minimum thickness of 0.3 mm. Further processing of the coils to strip is carried out in the edge trimming and dividing lines.

With this large-scale order with a value of approximately 110 MEUR Andritz will further extend its market leadership as supplier of plants for processing stainless steel strip.

“The award of this remarkable order which comprises all parts of a plant for processing cold-rolled stainless steel strip is further proof of the validity of Andritz’s strategy to offer complete process lines in each of its Business Areas. Technology leadership and comprehensive system competence will continue to remain the most important strategic goals of the Andritz Group”, says Wolfgang Leitner, President and CEO of Andritz.