Kobe Steel Launches Steel Wire Processing Company in China

Kobe Steel has announced that is has launched a new steel wire processing company in China for the production of high quality springs. The new company will be called Kobelco Spring Wire with operations likely to commence by the first half of 2013.

In order to reduce investment and overhead costs and construction time, the new company will be located within the premises of its sister company Kobe Wire Products.

Technical assistance for the new company will be provided by Shinko Wire Company and Suncall Corporation for secondary steel wire rod processing. The new company has been started with an investment of 650 million yen. It is a fully owned subsidiary of Kobelco Holding.

There has been a rapid increase in the number of steel spring manufacturers in China and many new production lines such as engine valve springs and other high quality springs have been added recently. Kobe Steel expects to have high demand for its high quality steel wire springs and steel rods from automobile manufacturers in Europe and the US. With the operation of the new company steel wires will be more focussed on the local market to meet local demands. The company also plans to establish a local supply network to meet the demands of the local market in terms of quality and flexibility.