OREANDA-NEWS. November 19, 2013. General Steel Holdings, Inc. ("General Steel" or the "Company") (NYSE: GSI), a leading non-state-owned steel producer in China, announced today that it has commenced a trial production run of a newly-constructed 1.2 million metric ton ("MMT") advanced continuous-rebar-rolling production line at its principal manufacturing facility, Shaanxi Longmen Iron and Steel Co., Ltd. ("Longmen Joint Venture").

The Company currently expects this new production line to reach full operation by the end of 2013.

This new 1.2 MMT continuous-rolling production line expands on the Company's successful launch of a 900,000 metric ton line in July of 2013. Longmen Joint Venture now has a total continuous-rolling capacity of 4.3 MMT, including 3.3 MMT of rebar and 1.0 MMT of high-speed wire. When the two newly-constructed continuous-rolling production lines located at the same facility in which steel billet is produced reach their designed efficiency, the Company expects to reduce overall production cost by approximately RMB 150 million per year by eliminating intermediate transportation, re-heating, and outsourced-processing costs.

"The launch of another continuous-rolling production line should further enhance our cost structure," said Henry Yu, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of General Steel. "We are pleased the first line already reached its full capacity in early October and are confident the second line will ramp to full capacity by the end of this year. We expect the additional continuous-rolling capacity will contribute outstanding savings in our unit production cost, and ultimately deliver meaningful profitability improvements."