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| Kobe Steel establishes steel wire processing company in China - 25 Jan, 2012 | ||
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Kobe Steel Ltd announces that it has established a company in Foshan, Guangdong Province, China to make steel wire for use in high quality springs. The new company, called Kobelco Spring Wire Co Ltd will begin operations in the first half of 2013. To shorten construction time and reduce investment costs and overhead, KSW will be located within the premises of sister company Kobe Wire Products Co Ltd. KSW will receive technical assistance from Shinko Wire Company, Ltd and Suncall Corporation for the secondary processing of steel wire rod. KSW was established in January 2012 and is capitalized at 650 million yen. It will have a production capacity of 600 metric tons per month. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Kobelco Holding Co Ltd, Kobe Steel China headquarters. In recent years, automakers in China have been rapidly increasing production. In addition, the automobile industry along with current exhaust gas regulations is being pressed to reduce carbon-dioxide emissions. In the future, automakers will be required to make smaller and lighter cars while improving engine combustion efficiency. On this background, in China the world major spring manufacturers have been actively adding new production lines and increasing capacity to make engine valve springs and other high quality springs. Kobe Steel anticipates that demand for high grade steel wire for springs made from its wire rod highly evaluated by automakers in Japan, the United States and Europe will increasingly grow. When KSW begins operating, plans call for steel wire which is exported to shift to local production to meet market demand for automotive springs in China. Through the establishment of KSW, Kobe Steel aims to meet the growing demand for high quality steel wire in China. It plans to build a local supply network that can meet the market in terms of quality, competitiveness and flexibility. RMDAS January 2012 ferrous scrap prices off to a strong start in US Figures from RMDAS indicate spot market buyers in January 2012 paid from USD 20 to USD 40 more per ton for ferrous scrap. Even without severe winter weather playing a major role, domestic steel mills paid up to USD 39 per ton more on the spot market for ferrous scrap in January compared to the month before. According to the monthly averages issued by the Raw Material Data Aggregation Service of Management Science Associates, mill buyers paid an average of USD 34 per ton more for shredded scrap in the January 2012 buying period, which includes the first 20 days of the month. The price increases caused RMDAS Prompt Industrial composite grade (consisting of No 1 busheling, No 1 bundles and No 1 factory bundles) to rise to USD 516 as a national average, placing it at USD 500 or above for the first time since October 2011. The other two common ferrous grades summarized in the RMDAS report (No 2 shredded scrap and No 1 heavy melting steel) also moved up in price, but maintained a national average below USD 500 per ton in January 2012. By region, prices in the South, which had experienced the smallest price gain in December 2011, gained the most in average value in January. In the South (consisting of Alabama, Arkansas, the Carolinas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas and western Virginia), each of the three major grades advanced by more than USD 30 per ton on the spot market, with No 1 HMS rising USD 39 per ton. Regarding scrap generation, a recycler near the US Mexico border manufacturing region says the generation of material remained hectic even through the holiday season, especially in the automotive sector. The North American auto industry continues to enjoy a modest rebound, with some 12.8 million passenger cars and light trucks sold in the United States in 2011, up substantially from the doldrums of just 10.4 million vehicles sold in 2009. An analyst quoted by Forbes magazine in mid January 2012 has forecast sales of 13.5 vehicles sold in the United States in 2012. A Northeastern scrap recycler comments that an unusually mild winter (as of mid January) also was helping to keep scrap flows steady, as have healthy scale prices for both ferrous and nonferrous scrap. According to the American Iron and Steel Institute, on the demand side, 2012 has started out on an encouraging note for North American steel mills. In the week ending January 14th 2012, mills in the United States operated at 76.2% of capacity. That level is above the 2011 same week rate of 73.2%, but down slightly of 0.4% from the previous week. The Raw Material Data Aggregation Service Ferrous Scrap Price Index is based on data gathered from a statistically significant compilation of verified ferrous scrap purchase transactions. (Sourced from www.recyclingtoday.com) | ||
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