Japanese steelmaker Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation has announced that it has signed a long-term contract with South Africa-based Nampak Products Limited to supply tinplate for food can manufacturing.
Nampak has 17 steel-can manufacturing factories across Africa mainly located in South Africa. Placing itself as Africa's largest can manufacturer, NAMPAK produces a wide variety of cans such as fish cans, fruit cans, general cans, crown caps and other various can-related products.
According to a study carried out by the United Nations, Africa is expected to expand its food consumption by 2.2 times during the period from 2000 to 2050. This is due to the high growth rate of its population and economy, and therefore Africa is expected to show strong demand for the high quality tinplate required for stable production of canned meals.