Tin cans will replace popular beer cans in Japan

Recently, Japan’s Nippon Steel Corporation and Japanese steel maker Kohan Corporation have reached an agreement to jointly promote the tinplate business to the Japanese canned beer industry, which has been monopolized by aluminum products. The two companies agreed to jointly purchase nickel and tin raw materials, share production equipment, and jointly compete with aluminum can producers and foreign traders for market share. After the cooperation between the two parties will be more effective to withstand the changes in the steel market demand and increasing market competition.

In addition, in the cooperation agreement, the two companies agreed to cross-share the company's shares. Among them, Nippon Steel Corporation owns 1.19% of Kohan Company, while Kohan Company owns 0.15% of Nippon Steel.

Both parties stated that the two companies are studying contracts to jointly purchase nickel and tin raw materials. Kohan Company has signed a contract to purchase non-ferrous metal in the year. Nippon Steel Corporation also has a purchase contract, but the company has not announced the time limit of the contract. Nippon Steel Co., Ltd. annually produces 450,000-500,000 tons of tinplate, and Kohan Company has 300,000 tons.

Masafumi Miyaji, general manager of Kohan tin product sales, said the company intends to supply Nippon Steel's steel scrap. Shigeto Yasuura, general manager of Japan Railway's tinplate trade, said that after the cooperation, the company’s tin and steel costs will decline, which is a great advantage over aluminum cans. Aluminum prices continue to rise on the London Metal Exchange, so production costs will increase. In comparison, tin cans are much cheaper.

The quantity of tinplate or thin-plate beer cans supplied by Japan's plated steel production plants to four major Japanese breweries is 1 million. In 2005, there were 18.3 billion cans of aluminum canned beer. Yasuura added: “The plated steel is stronger than the aluminum plate. We have heard of consumers complaining that the beer cans produced by the beer producers are being processed or manufactured and often burst during transportation. It is pointed out that the aluminum cans can easily burst due to impact. Meanwhile, Tinplate cans can be recycled and reused, and the recovery rate is higher than that of aluminum cans. In 2004, the recovery rate of tinplate cans in Japan was 87.1%, and that of aluminum cans was 86.1%.”

Miyaji also added that in the production process, the amount of carbon dioxide emitted from the cans is much lower than that produced from aluminum cans. Yasuura denied that the preserved beer and aluminum cans had different flavors. "The results of scientific experiments show that the beverages stored in tin cans do not change their original taste. Good wine can be contained in iron bottles."

Mayumi Watanabe said that the growing number of non-aluminium tank manufacturers will enable consumers to believe that the taste and taste of non-aluminum canned beer will not differ from aluminum canned beer.