Sojitz Corporation and Sojitz Machinery Corporation (Head Office: Chuo-ku, Tokyo; President and Representative: Satoshi Nagakubo) have received other orders in succession for stainless steel production facilities from the leading Spain-based stainless steel manufacturer ACERINOX Group, the world's second largest producer of stainless steel. The total amount of the three projects for which orders have been awarded is approximately 11 billion yen.

(1). Project for Columbus Stainless (Pty)
An order, for approximately 4.5 billion yen, has been received from Columbus Stainless (Pty) Ltd. (Head Office: Middleburg, South Africa), 76 percent of which belongs to Acerinox, S.A. (Head Office: Madrid, Spain), for a cold rolling mill (Sendzimir mill) manufactured by Mitsubishi-Hitachi Metals Machinery (Head Office: Minato-ku, Tokyo; Representative Executive President: Yasukuni Yamasaki). Operations are scheduled to commence in April 2009. Sojitz previously received an order from Columbus Stainless in 2003 for the same type of cold rolling mill manufactured by Mitsubishi-Hitachi Metals Machinery and the mill has been running successfuly

(2). Project for North American Stainless
An order, for approximately 4.5 billion yen, has been received from North American Stainless (Head Office: Kentucky, U.S.A.), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Acerinox, for a cold rolling mill (Sendzimir mill) manufactured by Sendzimir Japan, Ltd. (Head Office: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; Representative: Yasuo Sugiyama). Operations are scheduled to commence in May 2009. Sojitz Machinery was awarded two orders before from North American Stainless in 2002 and 2004 for the same type of cold rolling mills.

(3). Project for Acerinox
An order, for approximately 2 billion yen, has been received for a project for Acerinox to enhance their existing facilities, No.3 Annealing and Pickling line. An annealing furnace manufactured by Chugai Ro Co., Ltd. will be introduced in order to increase the capacity of the existing annealing furnace by about 20%. Operations are scheduled to commence in April 2008.

In the stainless steel industry, the price of raw materials such as nickel, chromium and scrap iron continues to rise, and the Acerinox Group is accordingly working on increased production of high value-added products with the aim of improving profitability. The Acerinox Group produces approximately 2.6 million tons of stainless steel annually, and will expand its production of high value-added products through the aggressive introduction of facilities developed and built by Japanese manufacturers that are technically highly reliable. The high value-added products produced by Acerinox will be used mainly for automobiles, high-grade building materials and for home appliances, and will be sold in Europe, the US, the Middle East and India where demand for stainless steel is expanding.

The Sojitz Group's history of trade with the Acerinox Group covers more than 30 years since Acerinox was founded. Utilizing the collective strengths of Sojitz, the Group continues to promote project arrangements and proposal-making activities that suit on-site needs. 

Sendzimir mill