The world’s second largest stainless steelmaker, Outokumpu intends to make further €240 millions investment to expand its quarto production and its service center network.

The company plans to invest €180 million and €40 million respectively on its Degerfors plant in Sweden and New Castle, Indiana plant in the USA over a five-year period.

With upgrade on its existing equipments at both plants, the capacity will boost to 190,000 tpy at Degerfors and to 70,000 tpy at New Castel. The slab will be sourced out from Otokumpu’s Smacc meltshop in Sheffield, UK.

The company also plans to spend €20 million for its Willich service center in Germany increasing its stock and processing capacity to 110,000 tpy by 2009 from 60,000 tpy.

Outokumpu is currently the world's largest producer of stainless steel quarto plates, with a global market share of about 20 percent.