Japan-based Nippon Steel Corporation has announced that it has decided to expand its electrical steel sheet facilities at its Setouchi works in Hirohata, to improve manufacturing capacity and the quality of electrical steel sheets. The investment will total approximately JPY 104 billion ($1 billion) and will be implemented during the first half of 2023, with manufacturing capacity expected to increase by approximately 40 percent.
Worldwide demand for electricity and electric transformers is forecast to expand steadily, as SteelOrbis understands. Furthermore, efficiency regulations around the world regarding electric transformers are tightening in order to reduce carbon emissions. As such, it is believed that demand for high-grade grain-oriented electrical steel sheets with less energy loss, used in electrical transformers, will be higher than ever.
Nippon Steel stated that this investment represents a timely response to satisfy the ever-strengthening requirements for achieving a carbon-neutral world.