Nippon Chutetsu Kan to expand ductile iron pipe capacity at Kuki plant
Steel & metalsSaitama
Nippon Chutetsu Kan plans to install capacity-expansion equipment for ductile iron straight pipes at its Kuki Plant in Kuki, Saitama. The project began in March 2025, with completion planned for the second half of fiscal 2026; funding will come from borrowings.
Nippon Steel's European subsidiary U. S. Steel Kosice will invest approximately €900 million in a new electric arc furnace and oxygen plant at its Kosice steelworks in Slovakia. The electric arc furnace will have annual capacity of approximately 1.6 million tonnes and is scheduled to start operations in 2030; the oxygen plant is scheduled to start operations in 2029. The project will receive €350 million in subsidies from the EU Modernisation Fund through the Slovak government.
Sumitomo Metal Mining held a completion ceremony for battery recycling plants at its Toyo and Nickel plants in Ehime. The plants recycle nickel, cobalt, lithium and copper from used automotive batteries and have annual feedstock processing capacity of approximately 10,000 tonnes on a battery-cell-equivalent basis.
Aichi Steel will build a six-story new technology building at its existing site in Tokai, Aichi, to strengthen research and development and technical workforce training. The facility will include laboratories, offices and shared spaces, with completion planned for December 2028 and total investment of approximately ¥10 billion.
JFE Engineering will conduct Japan's first demonstration of separating and recovering CO2 from actual waste-incineration flue gas using metal-organic frameworks (MOFs). The pilot will use the Clean Plaza Fujimi waste-treatment plant in Mitaka, Tokyo, and is scheduled to run through the end of FY2026, with recovery of several kilograms of CO2 per day.
JFE Steel will expand surface-processing equipment for high-performance steel sheets at the Kurashiki district of its West Japan Works in Okayama, using Okayama Prefecture large-scale investment and regional hub promotion subsidy support. Construction is scheduled to start in October 2026, with operations beginning in June 2028.