TOKYO, May 11 -- Japan's JFE Steel Corporation plans to start up a new 480,000 tpy tinplate line at its Fukuyama works in January 2011, according to the Canmaker magazine. The company is investing 17 billion yen (US$190m) in the project. JFE Holdings was formed in 2002 by the merger of NKK and Kawasaki Steel Corporation. The company has a total crude steel capacity of 30m tonnes, of which around 800,000 tonnes goes into tin mill products, with three tinplate and three tin-free steel lines in Japan.

Apart from the Fukuyama plant, JFE also produces tin mill products at the former Kawasaki plant in Chiba, and is involved in two joint ventures in China with local, Korean and Taiwanese partners.