Kobe Steel’s wire rod processing venture in China to expand capacity

Japanese steelmaker Kobe Steel Ltd (Kobe) has announced that, together with the other equity shareholders of Kobe Special Steel Wire Products (Pinghu) Co., Ltd., it has agreed to expand the production capacity of their Chinese joint venture that processes special steel wire rod.
 
To meet the growing need for cold heading (CH) steel wire in the automotive sector, Kobe Special Steel Wire Products (KSP) will invest about CNY 1.3 billion ($204.29 million) to install additional pickling equipment, for a total of two units. Production capacity of special steel wire will increase from the current 3,500 metric tons per month to about 4,900 metric tons per month. The new pickling equipment is scheduled to start up in December 2016.