Kobe Steel's subsidiary, Kobelco Automotive Aluminium Rolled Products (China), has opened a new factory in Tianjin, China. The company, established in 2014, produces and sells automotive aluminium panel material.
Kobelco Automotive Aluminium Rolled Products (China) is the first Japanese company plant in China to make aluminium panel material. The wholly owned subsidiary has a production capacity of 100,000 tonnes per year. It currently has about 130 employees which will increase to approximately 180 when the plant reaches full operation.
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China is the world's largest automobile market. Current production of approximately 28m cars is anticipated to grow to about 33m vehicles in 2025. Due to environmental issues, automotive emission regulations and fuel efficiency standards are expected to become stricter, and the need to reduce the weight of car bodies is increasing. As a result, demand for 50,000 tonnes of aluminium panel material in 2016 is expected to grow to 300,000 tonnes per year in 2025, according to Kobe Steel's forecasts.
The supplier has been developing aluminium panel material since the 1980s. It claims a competitive edge through its original alloy technology, along with expertise in advanced surface quality and processing know-how, and also claims to be the top supplier of aluminium panel material in Japan.
"The launching of Kobelco Automotive Aluminium Rolled Products (China) enables Kobe Steel to supply aluminium panel material of the same high quality available in Japan to the growing Chinese market," the supplier said in a statement.
Kobe Steel recently announced it would form a joint venture with Novelis in South Korea to better secure metal supply capacity. It also plans to add an aluminium panel line at its Moka Plant in Japan.
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By GlobalDataThese investments in China, South Korea and Japan will strengthen the company's supply structure for aluminium panel material in the Asian market.
