The world's second biggest steelmaker Japan-based Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp. (NSSMC) has announced that its new cold heading wire company, Nippon Steel & Sumikin Cold Heading Wire (Suzhou) Co., Ltd (NSch), has started production. The company was set up for the purpose of expansion of the capacity and processing system of Nippon Steel Bar & CH Wire (Suzhou) Co., Ltd, which is a production/sales company for cold heading wire in China. Construction of the new plant had started in July 2014.
The new company aims to precisely respond to demand for cold heading wire in China, which is expected to grow in the future, and to further enhance competitiveness in terms of quality, cost, and delivery. The company is expected to increase production capacity to 42,000 mt per year. In addition, the company is considering introduction in 2016 of wire drawing equipment enabling manufacturing of product diameters up 40 mm in order to respond to the increasing need for local procurement of large diameter steel wire in China.