On Wednesday, a foundation was laid for a coal tar project with an annual deep-processing capacity of 300,000-ton coal tar, a joint venture between the Shandong Zhenxing Coking Co., Ltd and Japanese JFE Chemical Co., Ltd. It is introduced this is the largest singe coal-tar deep-processing project of its kind in the country, according to East China News of People Daily on October 13.

Japan's JFE Steel Corporation is a large-size iron and steel enterprise group in the world and was ranked No 4 in the world's iron and steel industry in 2004. It has the 226th place among the top 500 enterprises globally. A large-sized state-owned enterprise, the Shandong Zhenxing Coking Co., Ltd is ranked the sixth place among the 10 best coking plants in the country. Making full use of the opulent coal tar resources in Shandong Province with the adoption of the world's advanced technologies, equipment and management, the joint venture will produce and deal with market-needed series coal products, including light oil, carbolic oil, crude carbolic acid, industrial naphthalene, wash oil and carbon black oil.

With a total investment of 2 billion yuan and three phases of construction, the project will become the largest deep-processing enterprise in the country to produce crude carbolic acid and coal tar with annual sales income reaching 2 billion yuan and profit payments and tax turnover of 300 million yuan. With an investment of 400 million yuan, the first-phase project is scheduled to go into operation in next October.