Nikkei reported that Nippon Steel & Sumikin Metal Products Co said last week that it will make steel reinforcement for irrigation canals and other construction at a new Chinese joint venture starting in September.

The Nippon Steel Corp subsidiary will take 45% stake in the venture, which is to be established next month in Jiangsu Province. Nippon Steel Trading Co will hold 5% interest, with a local steel processor to own the remaining 50%.

With an annual production capacity of 100,000 tonnes, the newly established firm will take locally procured steel sheet and turn it into cold formed steel sheet piling, an interlocking material commonly used in rural and urban waterways. Annual output will start out at 10,000 tonnes to 15,000 tonnes.

Some 30,000 tonnes to 50,000 tonnes of cold formed steel piling are sold a year in China.

The market for all types of steel piling, including the hot-formed variety used in large scale projects, totals 300,000 tonnes to 400,000 tonnes a year.

(Sourced from Nikkei)