Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation - NSSMC - (President: Kosei Shindo) reached to an agreement with SAFRAN Group (CEO: Mr. Philippe Petitcolin) for long-term supply of titanium alloy billet, who has one of the world’s major jet engine manufacturer, SNECMA in his group.

NSSMC has recently been approved by SNECMA for supplying standard grade (SQ) titanium alloy.

This agreement is based on the premise that NSSMC utilise EB furnace and VAR furnace installed in Nippon Steel Sumikin Naoetsu Titanium, which is a corporate joint venture between NSSMC and Toho Titanium established in 2013, and it is a big business for NSSMC in aerospace field.

This agreement is a subsequence of the current long term contract and it is expected to be effective from a few years later.

In particular, SAFRAN's new engine, LEAP, developed with GE in USA will be used in Boeing 737 MAX and Airbus 320 NEO, and it is scheduled for production increase. NSSMC will contribute to this growing aerospace industry by supplying high quality and competitive titanium materials.