JFE Steel Corporation announced that they have signed an agreement with Kawasaki Kokan, Marubeni-Itochu Steel (MISI) and Shuan Hwa Industrial to establish a joint venture company in Zhejiang Province, China. The new company, Jiaxing JFE Precision Steel Pipe, will manufacture and sell small-diameter electric resistance welding (ERW) pipes and cold drawn steel pipes, mainly targeting automotive parts makers.
The new company leverages JFE Steel and Kawasaki Kokan’s production technologies for small-diameter ERW pipes and Shuan Hwa Industrial’s production technologies for cold drawn steel pipes as well as the sales capabilities of Marubeni-Itochu Steel to manufacture and sell high-quality steel pipes to meet the on-site procurement needs of automotive parts makers.
China is the world’s biggest producer of automobiles and in Eastern China, where the new company will be based, has a big concentration of automotive parts makers. With automobile production forecast to continue growing in China, demand for automotive steel pipes is expected to expand steadily.
