Japan: JFE to invest 13 billion yen in plate mill at Kurashiki plant

JFE Steel Corporation will strengthen its production system for thick plates used for monopiles, which are steel pipe piles used as foundations for offshore wind power generation. The company will invest about 13 billion yen (around $0.11 billion) to add a heating furnace to the plate mill in the Kurashiki area of the West Japan Works (Kurashiki City, Okayama Prefecture), and to increase the transport facilities. The company will make a mass production of large single heavy plates which are larger and heavier than conventional materials, with the aim of capturing growing demand.

A large single heavy plate weighs up to 37 tonnes (t), which is much heavier than a typical plate of 20-28 t. Until now, Kurashiki has only been able to produce plates in volumes.

Heating furnaces are used to pre-heat semi-finished slabs before rolling. In order to increase the production of large, heavy plates, it was essential to strengthen the heating furnace. After the expansion, the plant will have three furnaces, including the two existing ones. The company has already begun construction to increase the capacity of the furnace and hopes to have it up and running by Nov'23.

The use of large single-heavy plates for monopiles reduces the amount of welding and the number of man-hours required for assembly compared to ordinary thick plates. As a result, the demand for large single-heavy plates is expected to increase construction costs and shorter manufacturing time.

Last year, the Kurashiki district spent about 53 billion yen (46 billion) to add a seventh continuous casting machine to the steelmaking plant, which is an upstream process for thick plates. The aim is to do mass production of slabs with large cross-sections, which will be the base material for large single heavy plates.

JFE Holdings, the parent company of JFE Shoji Trade Corporation, is planning to strengthen its offshore wind-related business on a group-wide basis. JFE Engineering will invest about 40 billion yen ($34 billion) to build a monopile plant, and JFE Steel plans to supply large monopiles as base materials.

Note: This Insight has been published in accordance with an article exchange agreement between SteelMint and Japan Metal Daily.