(Yicai Global) May 22 -- Beijing Shougang Co. plans to build a production line to create high-strength steel sheets for cars as the firm looks to meet rising demand in the domestic auto market.

The CNY1.3-billion (USD205-million) plant will be based in Tangshan city at a factory run by affiliated company Shougang Jingtang United Iron & Steel Co., Beijing Shougang said in a statement yesterday. Its designed annual capacity is 320,000 tons of cold-galvanized products and 40,000 tons of hot-galvanized goods.

China's ultra-high-strength steel usage will reach 1.5 million tons by 2020 and the proportion of galvanized products will slowly increase, the company cited the Automotive Lightweight Technology Innovation Strategic Alliance as saying.

The assembly will enter operation by December 2019, the statement added. It will be working at 80 percent capacity within a year and at full whack within another 12 months. Once fully operational, the production line will optimize the company's product mix and improve general availability of its automotive steel sheets.

Editor: James Boynton