Baosteel, Baowu Aluminum and Kobe Steel formally agree to establish a joint venture for automotive aluminum plates
2024-08-10
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In February this year, Baowu Aluminum Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Baowu Aluminum") and Kobe Steel, Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Kobe Steel") held a press conference in Shanghai to announce their intention to establish a joint venture for automotive aluminum sheets. Less than half a year after the parties reached a consensus, the establishment of the joint venture has made substantial progress.
On August 8, The Paper learned from Baosteel Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Baosteel", 600019.SH) that on the same day, Baosteel Group, Baowu Aluminum and Kobe Steel formally agreed to establish Baosteel Kobe Steel Automotive Aluminum Plate (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. (tentative name) and signed a joint venture contract in Tokyo, Japan.
Zou Jixin, Chairman of Baosteel, Wang Juan, Deputy General Manager, Chief Financial Officer and Secretary of the Board of Directors of Baosteel, Katsukawa Shishihiko, Representative Director and President of Kobe Steel, and Kazuhiko Kimoto, Executive Director, attended the contract signing ceremony. Huang Jie, Director of Capital Operation Department of Baosteel, Wu Jianpeng, Chairman of Baowu Aluminum, Shoji Miyazaki, Vice President and Executive Officer of Kobe Steel, and Daizo Morita, Executive Officer of Kobe Steel and Chairman of Kobe Steel Investment, signed the joint venture contract.
It is understood that the newly established Baosteel Kobelco Automotive Aluminum Plate (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. has a capital of approximately RMB 900 million (approximately 18 billion yen) and is registered in Shanghai. Kobelco Investment Co., Ltd. contributed 50%, Baosteel Group and Baowu Aluminum Co., Ltd. contributed a total of 50%, including two factories in Sanmenxia, Henan and Tianjin.
After the establishment of the joint venture, it will produce and sell aluminum plates to Chinese domestic automobile manufacturers. Baosteel Co., Ltd. introduced that the three parties of the joint venture will rely on their respective production, technology and marketing advantages to establish a production system for high-quality aluminum plates for automobile bodies, expand the layout of Baosteel's new energy vehicle overall solution SMARTeX in multiple materials, and enhance China Baowu's ability to provide comprehensive solutions of "steel + advanced materials".
In the next step, the three parties to the joint venture will advance the establishment of the joint venture company subject to obtaining approval from regulatory authorities of various countries.
In fact, the establishment of a joint venture by the three parties is also in line with the trend of green development of the global automotive industry. According to the data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, domestic automobile production and sales will increase year-on-year in 2023, and many indicators will hit record highs. It is expected that the total automobile sales in 2024 will exceed 31 million, an increase of more than 3% year-on-year, among which passenger cars and new energy vehicles will continue to maintain a strong development momentum in both production and sales. In the international market, data from the German Automobile Management Center shows that global electric vehicle sales hit a record high in 2023, a year-on-year increase of 29%, and there is still a lot of room for growth in the European and American markets.
Kobe Steel is a leading global supplier of aluminum sheets with strong capabilities in the research and development of high-end automotive aluminum exterior panels and covering parts technology. With its mature aluminum sheet production technology, it has been deeply rooted in the Chinese market. It has extensive production experience and technical accumulation of high-end automotive aluminum sheets and has accumulated many customers in the Japanese and Chinese markets.
Kobe Steel's Kobe Steel Automotive Aluminum was established in 2014 and is 100% funded by Kobe Steel. It started mass production in April 2016. In recent years, it intends to cooperate with local Chinese aluminum companies to build a scrap aluminum recycling system that has been in increasing demand from customers in recent years, in order to adapt to the industry trend of reducing carbon emissions.
Baowu Aluminum was established in 2011 and is controlled by China Baowu. Since its production started in 2021, its production and sales have been continuously released, market expansion has been gradually accelerated, and new product development has been steadily improved. It has a full-process manufacturing system including smelting, hot rolling, cold rolling, annealing, and finishing with an annual output of 300,000 tons. Relying on Baosteel's marketing services and processing and distribution network system, it has the resource advantages of serving automobile OEMs in all aspects and the ability to provide comprehensive solutions for advanced materials. It is an important force for China Baowu to expand the new materials industry.
Thepaper.cn reporter He Liping
(This article is from The Paper. For more original information, please download the "The Paper" APP)
