(Minews) - Japan’s Marubeni-Itochu Steel Inc (MISI) has signed an agreement with Pakistan’s Dawood Engineering to jointly establish a new steel-processing company in Bin Qasim Industrial Park outside of Karachi.
The new company, MID Pakistan Coil Center (Private) Ltd, will process and sell automotive steel products, with operations scheduled to commence in July 2015. Its equipment will include a large slitter, one large leveller shear line, and two shearing machines with an annual processing capacity of approximately 70,000 tons.
The Japanese trading house will have a 74% stake in the venture, and Dawood the remaining 26%.
Pakistan, the world’s sixth most populous nation at over 180 million, is emerging as a market generating particularly high hopes for expanded automobile and motorcycle production, MISI noted.
Moreover, it currently does not host any companies along the lines envisioned for the joint venture, so this will mark the launch of the country’s first full-fledged steel product processing centre.
“MID Pakistan Coil Center will provide high-calibre services through the processing and sales of steel products, meeting the needs of local customers in the automobile, motorcycle, electric appliance and building materials fields as well as the highly diversified demands of Japanese companies slated to expand to Pakistan,” it said.
