Novelis expands in Asia
Novelis, the world’s leading producer of aluminium rolled products, has announced the opening of a new office in the Shanghai World Financial Center to expand the company’s presence in Asia.
The company has appointed James Liu (pictured) as managing director, Novelis China, and director, sales and marketing, Automotive Asia.
Liu will lead Novelis’ expansion plans in China in alignment with the company’s long-term growth strategy for Asia. In his sales and marketing role, Liu will drive the execution of major automotive growth opportunities for Novelis in China and Korea. He joins Novelis from Alcoa China Rolled Products Group, where he served as vice president and managing director, Alcoa International (Asia) Limited. In this role, Liu was responsible for commercial activities including strategic planning, sales, marketing, customer technical service, sales administration and trade compliance. Prior to Alcoa, Liu was president of Lysaght China for BHP Steel China.
“Aluminium has been growing at a much faster pace than other comparable materials,” says Philip Martens, president and CEO of Novelis. “As global urbanisation and income continues to accelerate in Asia, and particularly China, the flat rolled aluminium market is expected to double in size there by 2020. The opening of our Shanghai office is an important step for Novelis to further capitalise on this significant opportunity. With an expansion underway in Korea, combined with our move into China, we can better serve rapidly growing consumer demand in Asia for high-margin can, automotive and specialty products.”
The company is currently investing approximately $400 million to expand its aluminium rolling and recycling operations in South Korea in response to the growing demand for its products in Asia and the Middle East. The rolling expansion, which will include investments in both hot rolling and cold rolling operations, will increase Novelis’ aluminium sheet capacity in Asia to one million metric tons annually. Novelis operates an Asian regional head office in Seoul, South Korea, leading operations and sales for its three manufacturing facilities in South Korea and Malaysia.
