OREANDA-NEWS. JFE Steel Corporation (JFE) announced that the company, Kawasaki Kokan Co., Ltd., Marubeni-Itochu Steel Inc. (MISI) and Taiwan’s largest cold drawn pipe manufacturer Shuan Hwa Industrial Co., Ltd. (Shuan Hwa Industrial) had signed an agreement to establish a joint venture company in Zhejiang Province, China. The new company, Jiaxing JFE Precision Steel Pipe Co. Ltd., will undertake the manufacture and sale of small-diameter electric resistance welding (ERW) pipes and cold drawn steel pipes, mainly targeting automotive parts makers.

By leveraging JFE Steel and group company Kawasaki Kokan’s production technologies for small-diameter ERW pipes and Shuan Hwa Industrial’s production technologies for cold drawn steel pipes as well as the sales capabilities of Marubeni-Itochu Steel, the new company will manufacture and sell high-quality steel pipes to meet the on-site procurement needs of automotive parts makers.

China is the world’s biggest producer of automobiles and in Eastern China, where the new company will be based, there is a concentration of automotive parts makers. With automobile production forecast to continue growing in China, demand for automotive steel pipes is expected to expand steadily.