Japanese steelmaker Kobe Steel and joint venture partners Shinsho Corporation, Osaka Seiko Co. and Meihoku Kogyo Co. have decided to expand the production capacity of their Chinese wire rod processing joint venture, Kobe Special Steel Wire Products (Pinghu) Co. (KSP).
Accordingly, KSP will invest JPY 710 million ($9.2 million) in capacity expansion, adding two wire drawing machines to the existing three units. This will increase the monthly wire drawing capacity from 2,100 mt to 3,350 mt.
KSP produces cold heading (CH) steel wire made from special steel wire rod for the automotive industry. Since the commissioning of KSP in 2009, automobile production in China has steadily increased, resulting in growing demand for CH wire.