Kobe Steel and Angang Steel to jointly produce steel for the automotive industry

Kobe Steel Limited and Angang Steel have formed a joint venture company Kobelco Angang Auto Steel Company Limited in China, which, on August 1, began operations to manufacture and sell advanced high strength cold rolled steel sheet for automobile manufacturing. The two parent companies signed an agreement dated October 17, 2013 to form a joint venture.

Subsequently, they completed all the necessary founding procedures for the activities of the new company. After receiving approval from the Chinese government, the Kobelco Angang Auto Steel JV started operations. Kobelco Angang will build continuous annealing lines with a production capacity of 600 thousand tons per year for the production of cold-rolled high-strength steel with a limit of 590 MPa and above.

Production is slated to begin early 2016. The total investment will reach CNY 1.75 billion. Kobelco Angang is headquartered at Angang Steel Works in Anshan, Liaoning Province. Angang owns 51 percent of the company. Kobe Steel owns 49 percent of the shares through Kobelco (China) Holding Company Limited. The joint venture will employ about 100 people when it is fully operational. JV Chairman Wang Yidong is nominated from Angang Company.

In China, the world's largest automotive market, the new company will combine Kobe Steel's world-class automotive cold rolled steel technology with Angang's solid business base to meet the growing demand for high strength steel in China.