Electrode-Maker Showa Denko Wraps Up $300M Expansion In Dorchester County

　　Amajor Dorchester County employer celebrated the completion of a $300 millionexpansion Friday, an investment that will nearly double its capacity to makegiant electrodes for the steel industry.

　　ShowaDenko Carbon near Ridgeville marked its expanded facilities with aribbon-cutting ceremony. Gov. Nikki Haley and company officials participated.

　　ClintLucas, senior vice president of administration, said the company employs about254 workers but plans to add 60 more. In 2011, when the expansion was firstannounced, Showa Denko had 210 employees.

　　"Thebuildings are completed and the equipment is in place," Lucas said."As we commission the equipment and get it started, we will bring otherworkers on."

　　DorchesterCounty Council Chairman Bill Hearn said the expansion makes the plant "thelargest of its kind in the world in terms of production."

　　"Theyhave been here a good long time, and we value them being here," he said."It is not only bringing jobs, but quality, high-paying jobs ... of about$24 to $28 an hour."

　　Itwill also pump more money into county coffers. Last year, Showa Denko paid $1.7million in property taxes. For each of the next six years, the company will pay$2.2 million. After 2020, the amount jumps to $3.7 million, Hearn said.

　　Japan-basedShowa Denko Carbon makes graphite electrodes used in steelmaking to melt scrapmetal in electric furnaces for customers such as the Nucor Corp. mill on theCooper River in Berkeley County.

　　Thefactory supplies about 40 percent of the nation's large-diameter, ultra-highpower graphite electrodes, according to the state Commerce Department.

　　Theexpansion, announced in 2011 and just being completed, will allow theTokyo-based company to boost its annual production capacity in the Lowcountryto 75,000 tons from 45,000 tons.

　　Theplant's history dates to 1983, when it began as Airco Carbon's South CarolinaWorks. The Showa Denko Group acquired the operation in 1988.

　　Thecompany considered opening a new facility in China three years ago. It said atthe time that it decided instead to focus its resources in the U.S. because ofthe ability to expand, demand from a significant U.S. customer base andproximity to raw material sources and the Port of Charleston.

　　TheRidgeville expansion marks a key part of Showa Denko's growth plan. Companyofficials said the world's steel production fell during the economic recessionin 2008 and 2009 but rebounded by as much as 16 percent in 2010 and was expectedto grow annually at a 4 percent rate after 2011.

　　ShowaDenko's ceremony came two days after another foreign-owned business, Frenchhigh-voltage cablemaker Nexans, marked the completion of a $85 million plant itbuilt in the Bushy Park Industrial Complex in Berkeley County.