Under a JV agreement, Shanxi-based Jianbang Group of China and Pakistani Consortium have established the first private blast furnace plant for manufacturing pig iron in Pakistan. The Pak-China Steel mill is located at Port Qasim Karachi. The US$12 million investment seeks to provide domestic supply of pig iron to local mills, especially after the closure of various segments of Pakistan Steel Mills, a publicly-owned entity. Despite difficult economic status, the Pakistan Economic Coordination Committee approved the Board of Privatization Commissions decision against the privatization of Pakistan Steel Mills in November 2018.
The company has started to produce 5,000/mt of pig iron monthly against a capacity of 8,000/mt monthly. The coal-fired blast furnace utilizes local iron extracted from the mines of Balochistan along with ex-China metallurgical coke.
The JV also plans to add a billet plant in the future.