With an investment of $ 180 million, Italian Arvedi assembles factory in SP

With a discreet arrival in the country, the Italian Metalfer Arvedi invested r $ 180 million in a steel tube factory in Salto (SP). This month, the company seals the beginning of their local production with the manufacture of welded steel tubes destined mainly to the automotive market.
In December last year, when the plant was completed jump-occupying 40 thousand m2 of a plot of 330 thousand m2, the company started the production of cold drawn tubes.
The unit is the first of the Arvedi outside of Italy and will have a total production capacity of 90 thousand tons of welded tubes and drawn products of steel. With 50 years of history, the company has four production units in the North Italian, including a steel mill with a capacity of 3.2 million tonnes of steel and a parts factory. Last year, it produced about 500 thousand tons of steel tubes in Italy and made a € 2.2 billion.
At the factory, where will employ 120 people, the company will produce tubes for hydraulic cylinders, the revolving rods and steering and axles for vehicles, tractors, trucks, cranes, agricultural machines, in addition to special steel pipes for industrial use.
The Italian brand is already present in Brazil four years ago, when he began to import products made in Italy directly to Brazilian clients, primarily pipes for hydraulic cylinders and truck axles.
By decision of its founder and Chairman, Giovanni Arvedi, installing a unit on Brazilian soil was silent and cautious. "The company first wanted to feel the demand to confirm the start of local production," said Marco Aurelio Picolo, Director-General in Brazil.
Now, the most reliable in Arvedi claims to have growth potential of the local market, primarily automotive. The industry matches for approximately 60% of its sales. Second Picolo, expectations of increased sales of vehicles and the new demands of domestic content in production weighed on the decision to come to the country.
The biggest challenge of Arvedi is to consolidate its brand in Brazil and win space at a bad time for the industry. For that, you have to conquer a slice of a market dominated by companies like Vallourec, MTP and Tuper, which among many other products sell tubes for automakers of Brazilian vehicles.
Second, the industry is very Picolo pressed by their suppliers, steelmakers, who face difficulty to grow, and for their clients, both as industrial manufacturers. "The moment is delicate for pipe companies in the country," he says. The goal of the Arvedi is to convince companies to replace the seamless pipes and tubes, which today are most in the local market, for his welded tubes.
This year, the company's goal is to achieve a turnover of r $ 45 million in Brazil, when the majority of your sales will still be coming from Italy product. Starting in 2015, with the Jump factory operating near full capacity, the Arvedi has the ambition to reach $ 250 million.
With the current equipment, the unit has possibility to produce 60 million tons of welded steel tubes, being 45 thousand tons to sell on the market and 15 thousand tons to transform in cold drawn steel. With other 15 thousand tons of tubes coming from Italy, thicker wall, will produce in Jump 30 thousand tons of drawn products to sell to their customers from Brazil and other markets close.
In addition to the local market, the Arvedi plans to export part of its production. Already signed his first contract with an Argentine company, Picolo, second and further intends to sell to other locations in South America, and Mexico and United States.