JFE Steel Corporation has announced that it will expand the electrical steel sheet production capacity of its West Japan Works (Kurashiki District). The plan calls for doubling the facility’s existing capacity for producing high-grade non-oriented electrical steel sheet. Construction, which will cost approximately 49.0 billion yen, is expected to finish in time for production to start in the first half of fiscal 2024.

The electrification of automobiles is accelerating amid the global push toward carbon neutrality. In response, JFE Steel has decided to expand capacity at Kurashiki to accommodate the growing demand for high-grade non-oriented electrical steel sheet products, which are essential for the production of motors that drive electric vehicles.

Electrical steel sheet, which contains additives such as silicon and aluminum, offers excellent magnetic properties such as high magnetic flux density and low iron loss. Two types of sheet are available. Non-oriented electrical steel sheet, which offers excellent magnetic properties that are nearly uniform in all directions, is used in the iron cores of motors. Grain-oriented electrical steel sheet, which exhibits superior magnetic properties in a single (rolling) direction, is used in the iron cores of power- and distribution transformers.

JFE Steel expects to continue expanding its supply capacity for high-grade non-oriented and grain-oriented electrical steel sheet in anticipation of further increases in worldwide demand as automobiles become more electric, energy use becomes more efficient, and renewable energy is adopted more widely.

More broadly, JFE Steel is strengthening its manufacturing base in Japan with world-class capabilities for the manufacture of advanced products that help to reduce CO₂ emissions and thereby contribute toward a more sustainable world.

About JFE Steel Corporation

JFE Steel Corporation, one of the world’s leading integrated steel producers, was established through the consolidation of NKK Corporation and Kawasaki Steel Corporation in 2003. The company operates several steelworks in Japan and numerous branch offices and affiliates throughout the world. JFE Steel leverages world-class technologies and know-how to produce a wide range of products based on its “Only One, Number One” strategy of focusing on unique and best-in-class products. The company reported consolidated sales of 3,900 billion yen in 2018 and consolidated crude steel output of 27.88 million tons in the fiscal year ended March 2019.

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