Klöckner bets more on aluminium in automotive

Germany-based steel distribution group Klöckner & Co has given the go-ahead to a second phase of investment in its new aluminum service center. Through its subsidiary Becker Stahl-Service, Klöckner is building a service center at its Bönen location in North Rhine-Westphalia, to process aluminum flat products for the automotive and manufacturing industries in Europe.

Work on the slitting line, already under construction, is going to plan, with completion slated for next year. Construction of a supplementary cut-to-length line is scheduled to start in early 2017, the company said Thursday.

The plant marks the biggest investment in Klöckner & Co’s corporate history, totaling some €35 million, and is expected to reach its full 80,000 metric tons/year aluminum processing capacity in 2018. The new business will operate under the name Becker Aluminium Service.

“By 2020 at the latest, we aim to generate the lion’s share of group sales with higher value-added products and services. Systematically expanding our business with aluminum, which is a key material for the future, will play an important part in attaining this goal”, Gisbert Rühl, CEO of Klöckner, said in the statement sent to Platts.

Becker Stahl-Service currently specializes in the processing and distribution of flat steel products with shipments exceeding 1 million mt/y. Its main customers are the automotive industry as well as other sectors of industry and steel distributors.

Henry Cooke, PLATTS