ABB building world’s largest stainless steel annealing line

Beijing , China May 24, 2004 - ABB, the leading power and automation technology group, said today it has won a RMB 55 million ($6.6 million) order to supply the world’s largest cold annealing and pickling processing line to Taiyuan Iron&Steel (Group) Co., Ltd. in Taiyuan, Shanxi province.

“Production and consumption of metals like steel is growing rapidly in China,” said Peter Leupp, president and Chairman of ABB (China) Ltd. “We are proud to support this growth. We have a well-established global metal center in Beijing that brings Chinese customers and partners advanced and up-to-date automation products and technologies.”

Under terms of contract, ABB will supply the basic automation system and computer process system, and AC drives and motors for the line. Production capacity is expected to reach 500,000 tons annually. The delivery is slated for completion in one year.

ABB won another order to supply a large cold annealing and pickling line to Ningbo Baoxin Stainless Steel Co., Ltd in April this year, and won the world’s largest hot annealing and pickling line from YUSCO in 2003.

Taiyuan Iron&Steel (Group) Co.,Ltd. (TISCO), founded in 1934, is a mega-iron and steel complex with main products of steel plate. It is China’s largest stainless steel production enterprise.

ABB (www.abb.com) is a leader in power and automation technologies that enable utility and industry customers to improve performance while lowering their environmental impact. The ABB Group of companies operates in around 100 countries and employs about 113,000 people. In China, ABB (www.abb.com.cn) employs about 6,500 people in around 25 cities.