TOKYO: JFE Steel Galvanizing Indonesia, the wholly-owned local unit of Japanese JFE Steel Corporation, has started production at its steel plant in Bekasi, West Java, two months ahead of schedule, the company said in a statement on Friday.
The plant, with a capacity of 400,000 galvanized steel sheets a year, is JFE’s third plant in Asia outside of Japan, after similar factories in China and Thailand. JFE Steel expects to cater to rising demand from automotive manufacturers, the company said in the statement.
The company pointed to Indonesia’s increasing immersion in the global automotive supply chain and repositioning itself as a hub for exporting cars from global manufacturers — on top of its already huge domestic market.
Sales are expected to rise to between 1.05 million and 1.1 million units this year, from an estimated 1 million units in 2015, the Indonesian Automotive Industry Association (Gaikindo) has predicted.
Japanese manufacturers Toyota, Honda, Suzuki and Nissan have all expanded production capacity in Indonesia. Saic General Motor Wuling — a joint venture between General Motors China, Shanghai-based SAIC Motor and Liuzhou-based Liuzhou Wuling Motors — is set to begin construction on its $397 million plant in Cikarang which will start production in 2017.
