Mass Media Overview
Severstal and Gestamp will build stamping production in Kaluga
12.01.2009 10:04
http://www.autostat.ru October 27, 2008
The Russian metallurgical company Severstal signed an agreement with the Spanish auto component manufacturer Gestamp about the establishment of a joint venture of automobile stamping production. Severstal has the blocking minority ownership (25.5%) in the new JV.
The stamping shop has already being built in Kaluga and the start of production is planned in 2010. Severstal plans to supply its rolled products to the new shop but it will not be the exclusive supplier. The total investment volume in the project is about 100 million euro.
Among traditional stamping consumers of Gestamp there are automobile companies which are building plants in Kaluga such as Volkswagen and Peugeot Citroen. However experts estimate that Gestamp-Severstal capacities are for 100 000 body kits per year maximum and that is why the project is evidently expected for Volkswagen's supply. Earlier Gestamp won a tender of Volkswagen to supply stamping parts to the plant of the German company in Kaluga.
Its full capacity is 150 000 cars per year and at the moment there is SKD assembly of Volkswagen and Skoda cars from imported components at the plant but in the first half of 2009 Volkswagen Rus plans to start CDK assembly.
Andrew Morris, the managing director of Stadco told the newspaper Vedomosti that the JV of Severstal and Gestamp will also own a half of the plant of stamping production in Leningradskaya region which was agreed to build jointly by the Spanish company and the English Stadco. The role of Severstal in this project was not discovered by Morris and the representative of Severstal refused to give any comments. The plant priced at 200 million euro will produce 100 000 automobile body kits by 2015. Its first stage at 66 million euro which was built by Stadco will start work in November of this year.
Experts polled by RBK daily comment the new JV of Severstal and Gestamp and remark that the Russian metallurgists take measures in order not to give the market to foreign suppliers. In its turn partnership with Severstal allows Gestamp to provide supplies to new production taking into consideration that it will not be possible to organize supplies of foreign steel quickly.