On August 12, the round billet caster revamping project at Eastern Steel Sdn. Bhd. in Malaysia successfully completed its hot trial and was put into production in a single attempt. This milestone marks the official commissioning of Malaysia's first round billet production line, filling a domestic gap in round billet manufacturing. The project significantly enhances Eastern Steel’s product portfolio and capacity layout. The newly produced round billets are well-suited to meet the demands of high-end, high-value-added applications, including oil and gas pipelines, API-standard casing, and high-pressure boiler tubes.

The upgrade leveraged the existing billet continuous caster to add round billet production capabilities, enabling stable production of two specifications—200 mm and 250 mm diameter round billets. The production line features high-purity smelting, precise composition control, and high-density forming, providing strong support for downstream high-performance steel manufacturing.

Since the project’s inception, the company has organized a cross-functional team to tackle a series of technical challenges, including the application of air-mist cooling for round billets, multi-stand withdrawal and straightening machine modifications, and precise adaptation of the roller table system. Comprehensive upgrades were carried out across key components such as the mold, cooling system, and cutting equipment. The new process introduces, for the first time, a zoned “air-mist + water cooling” system, which significantly improves cooling efficiency and billet shell quality.

During hot commissioning, the production team precisely controlled key parameters such as casting speed, oscillation, and cooling, ensuring that the round billets met international advanced standards in dimensional accuracy, surface smoothness, and internal density.

The commissioning of Malaysia’s first round billet production line not only enhances ESSB’s manufacturing capacity and technical capabilities, but also lays a solid foundation for the ESSB’s long-term development in Malaysia, service to Southeast Asia, and engagement with global markets. Moving forward, ESSB will remain committed to high-quality, sustainable, and international development, deepening technological innovation and intelligent manufacturing applications, optimizing its product mix, and driving the regional steel industry chain towards greater sophistication and collaboration—injecting fresh momentum into regional economic prosperity and industrial advancement.