China News: Cookson may add new plant in China
Cookson Group, the world’s largest maker of molds for the steel industry, may build another factory in China after surging demand from the nation used up the entire capacity of an expanded plant meant to serve Asia as a whole.
The company last year doubled production of ceramic linings used in steel foundries at its factory in Suzhou, northwest of Shanghai. Customers in China, the world’s No. 3 producer as well as the biggest consumer worldwide, quickly absorbed its output, preventing exports to neighboring markets, chief executive officer Nick Salmon said.
“When we started that project, we thought initially we would use it as an export base for South Korea and elsewhere," Salmon said. “But by the time it was finished, capacity was taken care of just in the Chinese market."
Cookson, which now employs more people in China than in its U.K. home bases, may benefit as the world’s fourth-largest economy shifts to higher-quality steel from lower grades used in bridges, roads and railroads, Salmon said. The company will increase production at its existing sites in the next few years and may open a new plant in Tianjin, south of Beijing, he said.
China has doubled crude steel output in the past four years to meet surging demand for buildings, cars and home appliances.
AI
Market Data 
Markets 
