The hot-dip galvanizing line TAGAL, a joint venture between ThyssenKrupp Stahl AG and Chinese steel company ANSC Angang New Steel Co., was officially inaugurated by the chief executives of the two companies, Dr. Karl-Ulrich Köhler and Academician Liu Jie, at a ceremony on June 4, 2004. The first galvanized coil was produced on December 4, 2003. TAGAL has an annual capacity of over 400,000 metric tons. 70,000 tons have been produced since production operations started. Some 80 percent of annual production will be supplied to the rapidly expanding Chinese automotive industry.

Built at a cost of 180 million US dollars, the line in the northern Chinese port city of Dalian produces hot-dip galvanized sheet meeting the highest surface quality requirements. TAGAL has 190 employees, including five from ThyssenKrupp Stahl in Germany. The joint venture partner Angang New Steel Co. is China`s second-biggest steel producer and is part of the Anshan Iron and Steel Group Corporation (Angang Group) founded in 1916.

With an output of 3.9 million vehicles, China is already the world`s fourth-biggest automobile producer. Experts predict annual growth in this sector of twelve percent to 2008, which will boost production to 6.9 million vehicles. Two thirds of demand for high-quality hot-dip galvanized sheet is currently met by imports.

ThyssenKrupp Stahl AG will continue to expand its presence on the Chinese market in the future to share in the growth in demand. ThyssenKrupp Zhong-Ren Tailored Blanks Ltd., a tailored blank production facility in Wuhan, started production last year. This plant will now purchase its starting material from TAGAL. Furthermore, there are plans to expand the Wuhan site to include a steel service center. It is also planned to set up additional tailored blank facilities, again in combination with steel service centers, in Changchun, Shanghai and Guangzhou, while a further tailored blank only production plant is to be built in Beijing. ThyssenKrupp Stahl AG will again cooperate with Chinese partners in these projects. The goal is to supply high-quality flat carbon steel products to the plants of international automobile companies throughout China.

ThyssenKrupp Stahl AG, the lead company for the flat carbon steel activities in the ThyssenKrupp Group`s Steel segment, produced 13.6 million metric tons of crude steel in fiscal 2002/2003 and generated sales of 7.2 billion euros. Including subsidiaries, the company has over 29,000 employees.

Contact:

ThyssenKrupp Steel
Erwin Schneider
Tel.: +49 203 / 52 - 2 56 90
Fax: +49 203 / 52 - 2 57 07
e-mail: erwin.schneider@tks.thyssenkrupp.com

Dietmar Stamm
Tel.: +49 203 / 52 - 2 62 67
Fax: +49 203 / 52 - 2 57 07
e-mail: dietmar.stamm@tks.thyssenkrupp.com