Taiwan's China Steel Poised to Massively Produce Titanium Wire Rods in Oct.

Taipei, Sept. 12, 2012 (CENS)--The Taiwan-based China Steel Corp., the largest steelmaker on the island by output, has achieved a significant breakthrough in the development of its non-ferrous metal business, as the steelmaker is scheduled to kick off mass production of wire rods made of titanium in October, which will hopefully generate considerable profits for the company in the long run.

China Steel's executives indicated that Taiwan ranks as the world's No.1 market by consumption volume of titanium per caput, and demands about 2,000 metric tons of the material every year to produce golf club heads, screws, bolts, etc., with all of which imported.

To help Taiwan reduce dependence on imports of titanium, China Steel has invested NT$1 billion in setting up a joint venture in China in cooperation with Walsin Lihwa Corp., a Taiwanese large-sized manufacturer of cables, wires and steel wire rods to develop titanium metal and related applications. The joint development project has been carried out for over one year, aiming to enable China Steel to achieve annual output of 1,000 metric tons of titanium metal initially.

China Steel's executives indicated that titanium generates much higher margins than carbon steel, with a metric ton of pure titanium able to be priced at up to NT$1.1 million, compared to NT$20,000 for ordinary carbon steel of the same quantity. The executives added that the higher-grade Ti-64 can sell for NT$2 million, or even up to NT$4 million when accepted by and delivered to international large-sized brands of electronic devices, like Apple.

Metal Industries Research & Development Centre, a leading R&D body in southern Taiwan, emphasized that the steelmaker's mass production of titanium metal is likely to help it to explore Apple's supply chain of iPhone, given the fact that an iPhone 5, for example, is built with 18 2.4-mm screws of Ti-64. Presently, the lucrative market is almost shared by Japanese and Korean screw suppliers, leaving no room for the Taiwanese ones.