Japan's Kobe Steel to raise Moka aluminium rolling mill capacity

Japan's Kobe Steel plans to raise the output capacity of thick aluminium plates at its Moka rolling mill near Tokyo by 18%, a spokesman for the company said on Tuesday.

The Moka plant's thick plate output capacity will be raised to 3,300 mt/month from the current 2,800 mt/month by late 2007, he said. Thick plate is used primarily for semiconductor and liquid crystal display manufacturing equipment.

Primary aluminium is mostly used for making the plates, according to the spokesman.