Toshiba sets up switchgear JV
( 2002-03-04 14:35 ) (1 )

World electric equipment leader Toshiba Corp began operating a US$21 million joint venture in Pingdingshan, a city in Central China's Hebei Province, on Saturday to produce top-class high-voltage switchgears for China's power industry.

Henan Pinggao Toshiba High-Voltage Switchgrear Co Ltd (PTC) is a 50-50 venture with a registered capital of US$12.5 million between Henan Pinggao Electric Co Ltd and Japan's Toshiba Corp.

It produces three kinds of electrical switches: gas-insulated switchgears, tank-type gas circuit breakers and hybrid-type gas-insulated switchgears, with a voltage range of 72.5 kilovolts to 550 kilovolts, said Zhang Bingwen, chairman of both PTC and Pinggao Electric.

The joint venture targets an annual sales volume of 600 million yuan (US$70 million), he said, adding that the products are in great demand domestically and have been so far mainly imported.

The joint venture can contribute to the further development of China's power industry by providing much-needed products domestically for the country's grid structural adjustment, west-east electricity transmission plan and upgrade of the rural and urban grids, said Wei Guangyao, chief of the International Co-operation Department of the State Power Corp.

Lu Yansun, president of the China Machinery Industry Association, praised the joint venture for its "profound influence on the development of China's high-voltage switchgear industry."

The new plant is expected to help Henan Pinggao Electric cement its position as a flagship in China's electric equipment sector.

Commenting on the possible competition between the joint venture and a Mitsubishi-funded factory in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, Taizo Nishimuro, chairman of Toshiba Corp, said the recent merger of the two Japanese business giants' departments of electric transmission systems may lead to different focuses of the two joint ventures.

Nishimuro said negotiations on further Toshiba-invested joint ventures in China are ongoing, but he declined to give further details. PTC is the 22nd plant launched by Toshiba in China.

Henan Pinggao is a Shanghai-listed company of Tianying Group. Pinggao Electric went public at the Shanghai Stock Exchange in March 2000.

Through assets reorganization, going public and introducing foreign investment, Tianying group has achieved an average annual growth of 30 per cent in output value, 19 per cent in sales and 39 per cent in taxes and profits since 1997.

Its industrial added value hit 370.8 million yuan (US$44.8 million) last year, 83 per cent more than in 2000, with taxes and profits reaching 74.6 million yuan (US$9 million).

Its products are exported to Europe, India, Southeast Asia and Latin America, with its export value reaching US$3.1 million last year.

Pinggao Toshiba is Tianying's second joint venture. The first one was co-founded by Cooper Electric Power Co of the United States. It also makes electric products.

The group is negotiating with IMG of Italy and SFU of France to set up its third joint venture producing casting aluminium products, Zhang said.