Capacity Doubles! Litong Rare Earth Steel Cable Empowers Global Infrastructure with Technological Innovation
——Phase II Project of Anhui Litong Rare Earth Steel Cable Co., Ltd. to Be Put into Operation Soon, Annual Capacity to Reach 300,000 Tons
Driven by the in-depth implementation of China's "Transportation Power" and "Manufacturing Power" strategies as well as the continuous expansion of global infrastructure demand, Anhui Litong Rare Earth Steel Cable Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Litong Rare Earth"), a leading enterprise in China's rare earth steel cable industry, has reached a significant milestone in its development. It is reported that the company's Phase II project, which is under construction with investment, has entered the final stage and will be officially put into operation soon. After commissioning, the annual production capacity will jump from 160,000 tons to 300,000 tons, making it a domestically leading rare earth steel cable production base and providing stronger material support for major domestic and international projects.
25 Years of Dedication, Forging a Benchmark in High-end Steel Cables
Founded in 2000, Litong Rare Earth is located in Dangtu Economic and Technological Development Zone, Maanshan City, Anhui Province. Relying on its superior geographical location and the advantages of a full industrial chain layout, it has developed into a large-scale professional manufacturer of metal products integrating R&D, production, sales, import and export. With a registered capital of 150 million yuan, the company covers an area of 210 mu (about 140,000 square meters) and has a building area of 110,000 square meters. Among them, the 95,000-square-meter modern industrial workshop is equipped with a complete set of prestressed steel strand production equipment manufactured by Italy's MARIO.FRIGERIO Company, laying a solid foundation for its leading position in the industry.
Adhering to the corporate tenet of "Building a Golden Brand with Integrity and Creating Value for Customers", Litong Rare Earth has established a sound quality control system and fully obtained ISO9000 international general quality assurance system certification. A R&D team composed of 37 professional and technical personnel has been continuously dedicated to the technological innovation of rare earth microalloying. Its flagship product, low-relaxation concrete prestressed PC wire, incorporates optimized formulas of rare earth elements such as lanthanum and cerium, achieving a tensile strength of over 1860MPa. The wire breakage rate is only 1/5 of the industry average. It has performed excellently in the 3 million-cycle stress cycle test, with a service life more than twice that of traditional products and a 23% reduction in the whole-life cycle cost. Thanks to its outstanding mechanical properties and corrosion resistance, the product has been successfully applied in world-class projects such as the Maanshan Yangtze River Bridge, Nanjing-Hangzhou Passenger Dedicated Line, and Shaoxing Cross-sea Bridge, as well as landmark buildings including the Shanghai Hongqiao Transportation Hub, the main venue of the World Expo, and the Pudong Airport Logistics Center, becoming a "reliable material" in the field of high-end infrastructure.
Diverse Product Matrix, Empowering High-quality Development in Multiple Fields
Based on the core technology of rare earth microalloying, Litong Rare Earth has built a diversified product matrix covering infrastructure, electric power, communications and other fields. In addition to the core product of prestressed steel strands, the company also mass-produces galvanized steel strands, aluminum-zinc coated steel strands, anti-corrosion steel strands, rare earth core aluminum alloy coated steel strands, steel-cored aluminum strands and other series of products. These products are widely used in key scenarios such as high-speed railways, cross-sea bridges, super high-rise buildings, reservoir cofferdams, expressways, mobile communications, and power auxiliary distribution. All products strictly comply with international standards and national standards. Among them, the rare earth core aluminum alloy coated steel strand has become a preferred material for new energy and smart grid construction due to its advantages of high conductivity, high strength, fatigue resistance and corrosion resistance, which is in line with the green development needs under the national "dual carbon" goals.
In terms of market layout, Litong Rare Earth has achieved a pattern of "full coverage in China and wide radiation globally". Its products are not only sold well across the country but also exported to dozens of countries and regions including the United States, Iran, South Korea, Japan, Angola and Venezuela. It has established a good reputation for the "Litong Global" brand in the international market and has become one of the largest professional manufacturers of metal products in China. With the acceleration of infrastructure construction in countries along the "Belt and Road" initiative, the company's export business has maintained steady growth, and it is gradually expanding its share in emerging markets in Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Africa to contribute to the interconnection of global infrastructure.
Capacity Upgrade at the Right Time to Seize the Industry Growth Dividend
At present, China's rare earth steel strand market is in a period of rapid growth. The market size reached 9.68 billion yuan in 2023 and is expected to exceed 13.8 billion yuan by 2025, with an average annual compound growth rate of 12.3%. Meanwhile, the global rare earth aluminum alloy cable market size is expected to reach 21.25 billion yuan by 2033, with an average annual compound growth rate of 11.62%. Infrastructure upgrading and renewable energy development have become the core growth drivers. The commissioning of Litong Rare Earth's Phase II project is a strategic layout in line with the development trend of the industry.
"After the Phase II project is put into operation, we will further increase the proportion of high-end product capacity, especially the mass production scale of 2000MPa ultra-high-strength rare earth steel strands, while expanding the production capacity of new energy supporting products such as rare earth core aluminum alloy coated steel strands," said a relevant person in charge of the company. In the future, the company will continue to increase R&D investment, explore the integrated application of rare earth microalloying and nano-strengthening technologies, and make breakthroughs in developing products with higher strength and better performance to meet the material needs of extreme scenarios such as super-long-span bridges and deep-sea projects.
From the bank of the Yangtze River in Maanshan to the global infrastructure stage, Litong Rare Earth has been writing a chapter of high-quality development in China's rare earth steel cable industry with 25 years of persistence and innovation. The commissioning of the Phase II project will inject new impetus into the enterprise's development, helping it gain a larger share in the global high-end metal products market and contribute more "Chinese strength" to the upgrading of the national new material industry and the global infrastructure cause.