On July 20, Kobelco Cranes Co., a wholly owned subsidiary of Japanese steelmaker Kobe Steel, announced that it will construct a plant in
India to produce crawler cranes. This investment of JPY 1.2 billion ($13.8 million) is expected to strengthen Kobelco's involvement in the Indian market, which is anticipated to grow rapidly in the future. Kobelco said the plant is scheduled to begin
production in October 2011. The new crawler crane plant will be constructed in the Sri City Special Economic Zone, north of Chennai in southeastern
India.
To operate its Indian business, Kobelco Cranes plans to establish Kobelco Cranes
India Pvt. Ltd. (or KCI), a wholly owned subsidiary, in August 2010. The Indian company will open in September. When the crawler crane plant is completed in 2011, KCI will integrate
production with sales.
The Indian market for crawler cranes, which reached about 200 units in 2009, is anticipated to grow rapidly to 700 units in the next five years, on the back of strong infrastructure investment.
Kobelco stated that it dominates half of the Japanese domestic crawler crane market, while its share in the world market stands at 17 percent.