Usha Martin eyes Chinese mart

The world's second largest wire rope manufacturer Usha Martin Limited is keen to enter the Chinese market for which it is carrying out a detailed study, its chairman B K Jhawar said on Saturday.

Speaking to newspersons in Kolkata to announce the company's future growth plans, Jhawar said since China was a low cost producer with a huge market, Usha Martin was certainly interested in looking at that country.

However, he said since China was a complex market, an in-depth analysis was required before taking a final decision on whether to set up marketing infrastructure there or to put up a greenfield plant. "A decision will be taken within 18 months."

On US operations, Jhawar said that the Houston plant would be operational by March 2007 when the first phase of production was expected to start.

Usha Martin, which has floated a wholly-owned subsidiary in the US, would be investing around Rs 46 crore (Rs 460 million) in the plant with a full-rated capacity of 25,000 tpa.

The US plant would primarily cater to the high-end market in that country.