Construction on a new blast furnace project started on Friday in China's leading steelmaker Baosteel Zhanjiang base in southern China's Guangdong Province.

Upon completion, the production capacity of molten iron, molten steel and steel products at the base is expected to reach the scale of 10 million tonnes, according to the Baosteel Zhanjiang Iron & Steel Co., Ltd.

With a total investment of 18.85 billion yuan (2.8 billion U.S. dollars), the new blast furnace project is planned to be put into operation in July 2021.

The project is designed in accordance with the ultra-low emission standard of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment and adopts advanced environmental protection technologies during the production process and intelligent equipment in its logistics system.

The company produced 8.39 million tonnes of molten iron and 8.61 million tonnes of commercial billets in 2018.

After the operation of the new project, the company will increase its annual production of molten iron by 4.02 million tonnes, molten steel by 3.6 million tonnes, hot rolled products by 4.5 million tonnes, and cold rolled products by 1.66 million tonnes.

By then, Zhanjiang Iron and Steel Base will have a capacity of 12.25 million tonnes of molten iron, 12.53 million tonnes of molten steel and 10.81 million tonnes of steel products.