Posted on 25 Feb 2008
The largest tinplate manufacturer in the Kingdom as well as in South East Asia, Thai Tinplate Mfg. Co., Ltd., will invest about 200 million baht to increase production capacity of tin free steel to meet ever growing local demand.
Thai Tinplate now operates four lines consisting of 3 for tinplate and 1 for tin free steel. Production capacity of tin free steel will be expanded by 30% to 156,000 tons by the end of the year, increasing overall capacity to 552,000 tons from present 516,000 tons per year.
Tin free steel is widely used for tuna can, crown cap and bottom end of can. In recent years its consumption has been steadily increasing by more than 10% annually.
The market of tinplate products last year is presumed to be about 570,000 tons, almost the same as 2006. The market share of local mills, Thai Tinplate and Siam Tinplate, sharply dropped from 76% in 2006 to 69% in 2007 because of huge inroads of low-priced alien materials.
Last year about 176,000 tons of tinplate products were imported which is as much as 31% more than previous year. Those from
Present combined local production capacity, 672,000 tons, is sufficient enough to meet domestic demand.
