Marubeni Corporation ("Marubeni"), jointly with Mitsubishi-Hitachi Metals Machinery, Inc. ("Mitsubishi-Hitachi"), was awarded a contract by JSW Steel Limited, a steel company in the private sector in India, for the supply of a slab sizing press for its hot strip mill.
Marubeni will be the prime contractor and Mitsubishi-Hitachi will design and supply the mechanical equipment. The slab sizing press is planned for commissioning by December 2015.
"Slab sizing" is a preparation process which preprocesses slabs (semi-finished product) before they are loaded to a hot strip mill. The process enables increased production of hot rolled coils by preventing yield losses. The slab sizing press will be located in front of the hot strip mill.
Marubeni and Mitsubishi–Hitachi have successfully completed the execution of the Hot Strip Mill project with an annual capacity of 3.5 million tons ("Phase-I"), and also the expansion project which increased production capacity by 1.5 million tons ("Phase-II"). Marubeni and Mitsubishi-Hitachi's technical competence and project execution ability performed through the Phase-I and Phase-II projects positively affected the contract award for the slab sizing press. Mitsubishi-Hitachi has been also awarded contracts for slab sizing presses from Dragon Steel Corporation, Taiwan and Formosa Ha Tinh Steel Corporation, Vietnam, respectively.
Steel consumption in India is expected to expand in the medium- and long-term as a result of the country's burgeoning middle-class. Marubeni and Mitsubishi-Hitachi will keep expanding their business in India and stay involved in the growth and development of the Indian steel industry.
