Wire Rope Corp. to build $100 million plant in China

Leading North American wire rope producer Wire Rope Corp. has formed a joint venture with a Chinese steel producer to build a $100 million plant in Wuhan, China. St. Joseph, Missouri-based Wire Rope and partner Wuhan Iron and Steel Corp, under the joint venture Wisco WRCA Co. Ltd., will begin construction of the 1million-square-foot wire rope facility next month, with production slated for next summer. Once in full production, the plant is expected to produce 50,000 mt of wire rope products per year for the Chinese and Asian markets. “While the total wire rope market in China is 2.5 times the size of the U.S. market, and there are numerous wire rope manufacturers there, the majority of the product is of relatively low quality,” Wire Rope CEO Ira Glazer said in a statement. “We believe there is great demand for a higher-quality product to enable us to sell our capacity and eventually expand.” Wire Rope will own 51 percent of the venture. Wire Rope Corp. was rescued from bankruptcy by private equity fund KPS Special Funds in 2003, and has since purchased a Mexican high-carbon wire rod manufacturer. Pre-bankruptcy, the company had joint ventures in China. The company currently has three wire rope facilities in Missouri and employees over 1,400 companywide.