The Baosteel Group is taking the lead in a campaign to turn Baoshan District, an area with a concentration of steel firms, into a top steel production and logistics base.

The country's most competitive steel producer is actively involved in many of the 33 projects announced yesterday to develop Baoshan. The projects involve a total investment of 15.77 billion yuan (US$1.97 billion).

Twenty of them were signed at an investment promotion fair yesterday. Together these are worth 11.46 billion yuan (US$1.43 billion).

This is the largest ever batch of investment projects following Baoshan's re-launch last year, an attempt by the city government to turn the area into a world-class steel production and logistics centre.

"We will play a leading role in the district's steel growth," Ai Baojun, general manager of Baoshan Iron and Steel Co Ltd, the publicly-traded subsidiary of Baosteel Group, said at the fair.

Among many others, the group is closely involved in three main projects: the Shanghai Baoshan Science and Technology Park, the Shanghai Baosteel Stainless Steel Processing and Distribution Centre and the International Steel Logistics Service Base.

The park is designed to be a comprehensive industrial cluster housing steel and other industries.

The stainless steel center, covering 1 square kilometer, has received investment of 3 billion yuan (US$370 million), Baoshan Deputy Director Si Fumin said at the fair.

Once operational, the center will be able to process 450,000 tons of cold-rolled stainless steel products, 100,000 tons of hot-rolled stainless steel products and realize a trade volume of 300,000 tons of stainless steel products each year.

Si said the center was expected to become the largest platform for the processing, distribution and trade of stainless steel in the country.

The steel logistics base, covering 320,000 square meters and involving an investment of 2 billion yuan (US$250 million), is designed to be a centre for steel transactions, information exchange and exhibitions.

At the convergence of the Yangtze River and the Huangpu River, Baoshan is connected to more than 400 ports worldwide and handles over 60 percent of container shipping in the city.

It is expected to attract world steel giants that want to set up their regional headquarters in the city.

India's Tata Group, Japan's Mitsui & Co Ltd and Hong Kong's steel chamber of commerce have reportedly expressed an interest in the logistics base.

Baoshan has long been the steel production and trading base in the city.

The northern district houses more than 10 steel trading markets and 45 steel warehouses. Each year, its steel transactions account for about 10 per cent of the country's total.

Since 2003, Baoshan has achieved over 20 per cent growth in industrial added value and sales.

(China Daily May 31, 2006)