BEIJING (Reuters) - China’s Shougang Group will open its new steel mill on the northern Chinese coast this month that will make 4.85 million tons a year, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Saturday.

Trial production will start on May 20 at the new mill in Caofeidian, on the coast of northern Hebei province, which has a total designed capacity of 9.7 million tons, Xinhua said in report.
The firm aims to reach the designed capacity by 2010, at which time it will also produce 8.98 million tons of iron and 9.13 million tons of steel products, the report said.
China, the world’s largest steel producer, is facing weakening domestic demand and falling prices that have pushed nearly half of its major mills into the red in March.
Shougang Group is the parent of Shenzhen-listed Shougang Iron and Steel, China’s sixth largest steel maker.