On April 19, Italian steelmaker Marcegaglia is set to open its first manufacturing plant in Asia, located in Yangzhou, China. This is the most important investment by an Italian company in China within the last 10 years, and the largest production facility offering excellence in the fabrication of high precision steel tubes dedicated to the manufacturing districts in the local market as well as the Asia-Pacific region.
The new manufacturing unit established by the Mantua-headquartered group covers an overall surface area of 714,000 square meters, and at full capacity will employ about 500 workers with an annual manufacturing capacity of over 400,000 mt of stainless and carbon steel high-quality tubes, for an overall turnover of €500 million, following a first-phase investment of €150 million.
The new production plant is located within the Guangling Industrial Park in Yangzhou, Jiangsu Province. The plant, which was constructed in just 11 months, from April 2009 to March 2010, also features the most advanced facilities in terms of safety and environmental standards.
Of the annual output of 400,000 mt at full capacity, carbon steel tubes will account for 200,000 mt, cold-drawn tube output will be 100,000 mt, 70,000 mt will consist of stainless steel tubes, with 30,000 mt of refrigeration tubes and other tubes. The products will be applied in sectors such as automotive, energy, precision engineering and hydraulics.
60 percent of the production from Yangzhou will be destined for the manufacturing industries in China, the world's top consumer of high-quality steel tubes, which today relies entirely on imports for such products. The remaining 40 percent will serve the Asian and Pacific markets, such as Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan and South Korea.
The plant is equipped with eight tube welding lines, three pointing units, two coil slitters, two drawing benches, two ultrasonic inspection units, two straightening lines, a line for orbital cutting, a normalization furnace and an automatic pickling plant.
The city of Yangzhou, located 370 km from Shanghai with a population around 4 million, is among China's most rapidly growing industrial cities and is equipped with a developed infrastructural network, motorway and high-speed railways, a river ship harbour and a modern airport.
Marcegaglia is a leading industrial group worldwide in the steel processing sector, with a yearly output of over 5 million mt. Founded in 1959, the group is fully-owned by the Marcegaglia family, with Steno Marcegaglia as chairman and Mira, Antonio and Emma Marcegaglia as CEOs. The group is headquartered in Gazoldo degli Ippoliti, Mantua, Italy, and is organized into seven business areas: steel, building, home products, engineering, energy, tourism and services.
The group has operations worldwide - in Europe, Asia, North and South America, and the Middle East. It supplies stainless and carbon steel products to more than 15,000 customers globally.
Marcegaglia's activities in the steel sector (88 percent) and other businesses (12 percent) generated €3.75 billion in revenues in 2010, and this figure is expected to rise to over €4.7 billion in 2011 thanks to major expansion investments, both in Italy and abroad.