Bisalloy Steels, Australia’s only manufacturer of high strength, structural grade steels, hosted its Co-Operative Joint Venture (CJV) partner, Shandong Iron and Steel Group Co Ltd (Shandong Steel), to its Wollongong headquarters.

The primary purpose of the visit – which was the first by Shandong to Bisalloy’s headquarters – was to attend a Board Meeting and vote on a number of key CJV appointments, namely a new Chair, a new General Manager and a new CJV Supervisor on the Shandong Steel side.

Apart from this main business, there were further discussions addressing the commissioning and operations of the new, state-of-the-art Shandong Steel mill at Rizhao, in Shandong province; and discussions on extending the joint venture between Bisalloy and Shandong Steel for a further 10 years

According to Bisalloy, when operational, the Rizhao facility will be responsible for manufacturing Bisalloy steel plate for both the Chinese and international markets. Plans for the mill include very high volume growth targets (moving from current annual volumes of 30,000-35,000 tonnes to 150,000 tonnes over the next 3-5 years) and the launch of new quenched and tempered steel plate products.

The maker of structural streel products used in the heavy construction sector, as well as the manufacturing of ships, hydraulic machinery, mining machinery and more, Shandong Steel Co. has registered capital of 10 billion yuan ($2.1 billion) and is recognised as an industry leader.

For its part, having expanded significantly in recent years and established itself in several offshore markets, Bisalloy is highly regarded in the Chinese domestic market as the premium high strength, structural grade steel brand.

With its products now already tested and accredited with numerous large Chinese OEMs, Bisalloy plans to use the CJV as a platform to leverage its products into international markets. In addition, the company plans to use the new steel mail in Rizhao to further develop the quality of these products.

Greg Albert, Bisalloy Steels Managing Director and CEO described the visit by Shandong Steel as a great success.

“Apart from the opportunity to conduct important business, it provided Bisalloy Steels with the opportunity to not only show off our Australian operations to our JV partner, but also build on our shared sense of purpose and further consolidate the intellectual exchange between our two companies,” he said.

“As the preliminary discussions on the new 10-year agreement between Bisalloy and Shandong Steel illustrates, the JV can surely look forward to a successful future.”