Mitsubishi Materials Opens Cemented Carbide Tool Sales Office in Thailand

Mitsubishi Materials announced on Tuesday the firm established a wholly owned sales company for cemented carbide tools in Bangkok, Thailand. Mitsubishi Materials organizes a sales network to follow the demand growth for cemented carbide tools in Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries. The sales company starts operation with 28 employees on September 1 and targets annual revenue at approximately 3 billion yen in 2011.

The capital fund is 101 million bahts (approximately 300 million yen), wholly invested by Mitsubishi Materials. In Thailand, automobile and automotive component industry has rapidly grown, which consumes large quantity of cemented carbide tools.

The sales company also cultivates the demand in surrounding countries of Southeast Asia. Mitsubishi Materials had established another sales and stock company for cemented carbide tools, MMC Metal Singapore (MMS), in 1993 to cover Southeast Asia, India and Pacific areas. MMS will be liquidated after launch of Thai sales company.

In India, Mitsubishi Materials established another sales company, MMC Hardmetal India, in 2006, which was separated from MMS. MMS’s stock function is already ceased and tools are now directly delivered from Japan.

Mitsubishi Materials started operation of a regional operating headquarters in China in July 2010. This company is now cultivating Chinese cemented carbide tool market. China’s car market became larger than US market and, as a result, demand for cemented carbide tool is strong. Mitsubishi Materials organized Asian sales network with the bases in Thailand, China and India.