Steel Industry News: Kobe Steel and Angang signs JV to start Kobelco Angang Auto Steel Co

Kobelco Angang Auto Steel Co 

13-Aug-2014

Kobe Steel and China's Angang Steel Company, a subsidiary of Anshan Iron & Steel Group Complex, have established a joint venture known as Kobelco Angang Auto Steel Co in China to produce and sell cold-rolled high-strength steel sheet which has a huge demand in automobile industry.

The two parent companies signed an agreement on 17 October, 2013, to form the joint venture and then undertook the necessary incorporation procedures to set up the new company. After receiving approval from the Chinese government, Kobe Steel and Angang Steel were able to establish Kobelco Angang Auto Steel to be headquartered at Angang’s steelworks, Anshan Base, in Anshan, Liaoning Province.

Kobelco Angang Auto Steel will construct a continuous annealing line with a production capacity of 600,000 tons per year to make cold-rolled high-strength steel with a tensile strength of 590 MPa or higher.

According to the Press Release, Angang will supply the joint venture with the substrate coils, with production slated to start in early 2016. The new company will combine Kobe Steel’s world-class automotive cold-rolled high-strength steel technology with Angang’s solid business base to meet growing demand for high-strength steel in China which also harbors the world’s largest automobile market. Total investments are anticipated to reach 1.75 billion yuan (US $291 million).

The new company Kobelco Angang Auto Steel would have a total capital of around 700 million yuan (11.6 billion yen) in which Angang Steel owns 51 percent of the venture and balance 49 percent stake by Kobe Steel. The joint venture will employ about 100 people when it reaches full operation with its Chairman from Angang.

(Source: http://www.kobelco.co)

Kobe Steel Starts Operation of New Hot-Metal Treatment Plant at Kakogawa Works

25-April-2014
The biggest steel producer of Japan, Kobe Steel’s new hot-metal treatment plant has gone into operation in April at its Kakogawa Works in western Japan. The company previously announced that it would construct the facility to improve the production system at Kakogawa to expand sales of high-end “Only One” steel products and increase its cost competitiveness. Kobe Steel has world-class technologies for producing high value-added steel products, but also raw material processing and iron unit production including pellets, direct reduced iron, and the ITmk3® iron making process.

Hot-metal treatment is a process to remove impurities—sulfur and phosphorus—in the molten iron. The high-end steel products, such as special steel wire rod and bar, automotive high-strength steel sheet, and steel plate for the energy sector etc. produced by Kobe Steel or any steel plant, require a high degree of cleanliness. To produce these steels, hot-metal treatment is an essential process.

The new hot-metal treatment plant has two Kanbara reactors for desulfurization and one dephosphorization furnace. The Kanbara reactor uses a stirring method to desulfurize molten iron. An impeller stirs the molten iron and the agitation removes the sulfur. The new plant, together with existing equipment, enable nearly all of the molten iron to undergo hot-metal treatment and will enable Kobe Steel to further increase the production capacity of high-end Only One products.

The new hot-metal treatment plant increases the reaction efficiency during desulfurization and dephosphorization, thereby reducing the consumption of auxiliary materials for refining and improving yield. According to an estimation the new facility will enable Kakogawa Works to save approximately 6 billion yen annually. Striving to strengthen the competitiveness of its steelworks, Kobe Steel is working to raise its presence in the market and increase its profitability.

Details of Kobe Steel’s new hot-metal treatment plant at Kakogawa Works

· Total investment: About 30 billion yen

· Start-up: April 2014

· Main equipment: Two Kanbara reactors, one dephosphorization furnace

 (Source: Kobe Steel Press Release) 

Kobe Steel of Japan and Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) sign MOU for Comprehensive Strategic Collaboration

5-Dec-2010
Japan’s biggest steel producer Kobe Steel and Indian public sector company, Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL), have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for comprehensive strategic collaboration covering technologies, projects and other areas. The MOU was signed by Mr. Hiroshi Sato of Kobe Steel and Mr. C. S. Verma of SAIL in the presence of Mr. P. K. Misra, Secretary (Steel) Government of India, and senior officials from Kobe Steel and SAIL on November 30, 2010 in Tokyo.

With India's steel industry and steel-related business showing remarkable growth and promising development for the future, Kobe Steel and SAIL intend to build a relationship of mutual benefit under the MOU. Both companies plan to form teams that will carry out collaborative work to lead to actual projects.

Kobe Steel and Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) have already begun a feasibility study for a joint venture that utilizes Kobe Steel's ITmk3^® iron-making process. With reference to finished products, specific projects / studies will be undertaken to explore the possibility of producing high value products, such as

(1) Products for automobile,

(2) Products for nuclear power plants and conventional power plants such as forged material and tubing material,

(3) Special alloy steel and bars, and

(4) Stainless steel tube and/or any other product mutually agreed to between Kobe Steel and SAIL.

If Kobe Steel and / or SAIL have contractual agreements with other companies, the items covered under such agreements would not be considered in the MOU. It has been learnt that the companies are already working together to set up a 0.5 million tonne per annum (mtpa) steel plant at SAIL’s Durgapur Alloy Steel unit using Kobe’s patented ITmk3 technology and are currently doing a feasibility study to freeze the finer details of setting up the plant. Under the ITmk3 technology, unlike traditional steel manufacturing process which uses iron ore lumps, SAIL will be using iron ore fines. This process is less pollutant and uses a raw material which is otherwise wasted at the mouth of the iron ore mines. In fact, SAIL also has a JV with South Korea’s steel giant POSCO for a similar technology called ‘Finex’.

Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) is currently India’s biggest public sector steel company with an annualized capacity of 14 mtpa. The company has earmarked an investment of 600 billion INR for expansion and modernization of its plants and up its capacity to 23 mtpa by 2012. Kobe Steel, Japan has world-class technologies for producing high value-added steel products, but also raw material processing and iron unit production including pellets, direct reduced iron and the ITmk3^® iron making process.

Source - http://www.kobelco.com/