Signing ceremony held for Kobelco Millcon Steel

Kobe Steel, Ltd. and Thailand’s Millcon Steel Public Company Limited held a signing ceremony yesterday (Tuesday, February 9) for the joint venture agreement to establish Kobelco Millcon Steel Co., Ltd. (or KMS). The ceremony took place in Bangkok, Thailand. The two companies announced on February 2 that they had reached a decision to form a joint venture to produce and sell steel wire rods in Thailand.

The agreement was signed by Hiroya Kawasaki, President and CEO of Kobe Steel, and Sittichai Leeswadtrakul, CEO of Millcon Steel. Attending the ceremony as honored guests were Visanu Krue-ngam, Deputy Prime Minister of Thailand, and Atchaka Sibunruang, Minister of Industry.

Automobile production in Thailand reached 1.91 million units in 2015, according to the Federation of Thai Industries, and is expected to steadily grow in the coming years. Other ASEAN countries such as Indonesia and Malaysia, are also anticipated to experience strong growth in automobile production in the future. Accordingly, as wire rod demand is also anticipated to increase, Kobe Steel and Millcon decided to establish KMS to serve as a production base for this material.

The establishment of KMS, Kobe Steel’s only overseas location for the production of steel wire rods, will strengthen the local supply system in the region and will help meet the diverse needs of customers, from product quality to delivery.