Chinese Tinplate Joint Venture Started Commercial Operation

Jan. 08, 2014

Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation

Chinese Tinplate Joint Venture Started Commercial Operation

Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation (Representative Director, Chairman & CEO: Shoji Muneoka, “NSSMC”) and Wuhan Iron and Steel (Group) Corporation (President: Qilin Deng, headquartered in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China, “WISCO”), having established a joint venture for the manufacture and sale of tinplate, WISCO-NIPPON STEEL Tinplate Co., Ltd. (“WINSteel”) in October 2011, and having advanced the construction and start-up of its mill facilities, have started its commercial production of tinplate on December 31 of last year.

WINSteel, having the state-of-the-art equipment and facilities equal to those in operation in Japan, is capable of high-quality tinplate manufacture.

In China, with rising levels of living standards, demand for tinplate for food cans, beverage cans and other containers is growing, with every prospect for continued expansion in the middle west, the main target area of WINSteel. Fusing together WISCO’s solid business base in China and our world-ranking technologies into WINSteel, NSSMC expect to be on the spot to catch the vigorous growth of demand, thus contributing to the economic development of China through provision of tinplate.

Profile of WINSteel:

-Company name:	WISCO-NIPPON STEEL Tinplate Co., Ltd. (Chinese name: 武鋼新日鉄（武漢）鍍錫板有限公司)
-Establishment:	October 2011
-Location:	Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China
-Business:	Manufacture and sale of tinplate & tin mill black plate
-Capital:	RMB1,850 million
-Equity ratios:	NSSMC 50%, WISCO 50%
-Production equipment/productive capacity (start of operation):
	Continuous descaling and cold rolling mill
	(CDCM)/ 800,000 t/y (October 2013).
	No.1 continuous annealing & processing line
	(C.A.P.L.) / 400,000 t/y (December 2013).
	No.1 electrolytic tinning line (ETL) /
	200,000 t/y (December 2013).
	No.2 continuous annealing & processing line
	(C.A.P.L.) / 400,000 t/y (under construction).
	No.2 electrolytic tinning line (ETL) /
	200,000 t/y (under construction).
-Investment:	RMB1,850 million
-President:	Michio Harada
-Start of operation:	December 2013
-Employees:	approx. 560

General view of the WINSteel plant.

WINSteel’s Electrolytic tinning line (ETL).

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