Nippon Steel Trading Enhances Asian CCs with Hanwa

Nippon Steel Trading, a trading company of Nippon Steel Group, announced on Monday the firm enhances coil centers (CCs) in Vietnam and China as well as the business branches in India and USA with Hanwa, Japanese major trading company. These investment totals about 2 billion yen. Nippon Steel Trading plans to raise the offshore sales ratio to 25% in fiscal 2008 started April from around 20% in fiscal 2007 by the business expansion in the areas where there is strong demand for steels.Nippon Steel Trading will increase the steel sheet processing capacity of NS Hanoi Steel Service in North Vietnam by 17% to 56,000 tonnes per month by the beginning of 2009. As to NS Saigon Coil Center, the subsidiary of Nippon Steel Trading in South Vietnam, Hanwa will hold 20% shares. They also plan the capacity expansion.Nippon Steel Trading will construct no.2 factory at a coil center in South China with the investment of about 1.5 billion yen. The new factory will start operation in the beginning of 2009. The factory supplies processed steel sheets to Japanese home electronics and automobile makers.On the other hand, the firm established a new business branch in Guangzhou, China in May. The firm now operates the branches in Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Dong Guan and Guangzhou as of China.The US office will be re-opened in July to extend the energy related businesses such as oil and gas. Nippon Steel Trading will also open the new office in New Deli, India in July.