SeAH rolls out S.Korea's first 24-inch STS steel pipe production line

South Korea's SeAH Steel Corp. through an expansion has the nation's largest plant for stainless steel (STS) welded steel pipe measuring 60.9 cm (24 inches) and begun mass production.

The pipe is widely used for liquefied natural gas (LNG) plants and transportation vessels. Amid rising demand for the fuel, the company plans to greatly expand order volume by boosting output capacity for such pipes used for LNG.

SeAH Steel on Wednesday said it completed the expansion of its plant covering about 340,000 square meters in Suncheon, South Jeolla Province, the biggest of its kind in the country and just the third worldwide after one in Butting, Germany, and another in Jiuli, China.

The facility's outer diameter of 60.9 cm was made via roll forming, or the process of rolling a steel plate through a roller and welding it.

Because coil is used as a raw material rather than the thick steel plates used in roll or press bending manufacturing methods, this plant can simultaneously conduct molding, welding, heat treatment and calibration on the pipe production line.

The facility expansion will raise the company's annual output capacity to about 10,000 tons.

Write to Mi-Seon Kang at misunny@hankyung.com