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December 2nd  - Projects Monclova Mexico - Chinese owned Copper tube plant opens in Mexico to sell into the U.S.
North American copper tubing buyers have a new regional supplier now that Chinese company Golden Dragon has opened a $100 million plant in Monclova. The plant in the northern Mexican state of Coahuila currently has annual capacity of 60,000 tons of copper tubes for air conditioners but plans to boost the annual capacity to 120,000 tons in 2010. The Xinhua news agency quotes Li Changjie, the Golden Dragon CEO, saying the Monclova plant is part of a global strategy to market copper tubing in U.S., Canada and Mexico and into Europe. Based in Xinxiang in China's Hunan province, Golden Dragon already has gross sales of more than $2 billion worldwide. Meanwhile, the U.S. International Trade Commission is investigating allegations that imports of seamless copper pipe and tube from suppliers in China and Mexico are being sold at less than fair value and causing material injury to U.S. producers Cerro Flow Products, KobeWieland Copper Products and two Mueller Industries divisions. Copper tubular imports from the two countries were valued at $728.2 million in 2008, the ITC says in a statement. The Xinhua news agency says the global recession appears to have set off an increase in trade disputes around the world, adding that China has become the main target of the rising protectionism. AMM.com says the copper tube makers from China and Mexico and their traders Dayco Industries, Homewerks Worldwide, JMF Co. and Marubeni America say the claims of injury to domestic industry are unsupported. "There is only one word to describe this case: bupkis," according to a filing with the ITC by Shanghai Hailiang Copper. (Source Purchasing Magazine)