Hitachi Metals to Establish Tool Steel Processing Company in China

Hitachi Metals, Japanese major special steel maker, announced on Monday the firm establishes a processing and sales company of tool steel for metal mold in Tianjin City of China. The firm aims to expand its tool steel business in China by reinforcing steel cutting and heat treating services and sales of high-performance tool steel, the demand of which is expected to increase for foreign affiliated manufacturers including Japanese automakers in Tianjin.The new company will produce mainly hot and cold dies steel, which will be established in September 2006 with 100 million yen of total investment and start the shipment in October 2006. The sales target is 200 million yen in fiscal 2008 ending March 2009 and 300 million yen in fiscal 2010. The company will introduce 2 cutting machines, 2 milling cutters and a grinding machine or so at first.