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www.read-wca.comWire & Cable ASIA – September/October 2016
From the Americas
Steel
People’s Daily
, which disseminates information on the
policies and viewpoints of the Chinese government, this
spring carried a small item that may merit more attention
than it received.
Zhang Shengsheng, identified as the general manger
of an investment company, was quoted on 17
th
May as
saying that China plans to transfer ten million tons of
steel capacity to Brazil in a move that will help, not only
to cut steel overcapacity in China, but also to avoid “the
anti-dumping and anti-subsidy trade investigation that
has been launched by Western countries against China.”
Several large Chinese companies – including Ansteel,
Masteel, Baosteel, and Wuhan Iron and Steel – were
reported “to have all expressed interest” in the Brazilian
initiative. For its part, Brazil was said to be looking
forward to hosting the project, which would boost local
employment and increase tax revenue, and to have
agreed to donate almost eight square miles of land to it.
While no details were given, according to Xu Zhongbo,
vice-president of the preparatory committee for the
project, the transplanted Chinese output will meet
Brazilian demand first, then the needs of other South
American and North American customers.
Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp (NSSMC)
announced on 21
st
June that is planning to build a $50
million plant in Shelbyville, Indiana, to process cold
heading steel wire for the automotive industry. Japan’s
largest steel producer said it has set up a subsidiary –
Nippon Steel & Sumikin Cold Heading Wire Indiana Inc –
to operate the facility, expected to produce 39,000 tons
of steel wire per year. Commissioning is set for spring
2018. According to
Indiana Star
reporter James Briggs,
the state of Indiana has offered the Japanese company
$475,000 in tax credits and $140,000 in training grants if
it follows through with hiring plans that extend to 2021.
The town of Shelbyville is considering additional
incentives. NSSMC, formed by the merger of
Nippon Steel and Sumitomo Metal in 2012, also
operates Indiana Precision Forge in Shelbyville, Seymour
Tubing Inc in Seymour, and IN/Tek and IN/Kote in New
Carlisle.
In an attention-getting Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT)
initiative, Japan’s JFE Steel, the fifth-largest steelmaker
in the world, will standardise its core platform across all
factories, using the Internet of Things (IoT) to connect
factories for better management. Parent company JFE
Holdings said it plans to spend $652 million to bring IoT
to its factories by 2022. The single database is expected
to shorten production times, reduce order delivery times,
and detect signs of equipment failure earlier.