According to Anhui Province-based Chinese steelmaker Maanshan Iron and Steel Corporation Ltd, its supplies of automotive steel sheets to Chinese automobile manufacturer Chery Automobile Co., Ltd have increased to 20,000 mt per month this year, up from monthly volumes of just several hundred metric tons per in 2005 when the companies began their cooperation.
Chery Automobile is a key automobile manufacturer in China's Anhui Province, and as such is a major consumer of auto sheet. The carmaker plans to produce 2 million cars per annum during the 12th five-year plan period (2011-15).
In recent years, Maanshan Steel has strengthened its research and development in the field of automotive steel sheets and has successfully developed high added-value auto sheets of M170P1 and M210P1 grades. Year-to-date in 2010, Maanshan Steel's output of auto sheet has exceeded 700,000 mt.