Hitachi Construction Machinery and Marubeni Corporation have reached an agreement to establish ZAMine Service Brasil Limitada, a sales and services company for mining machinery in Brazil.
As part of this agreement, both companies plan to invest 50% to create a special purpose corporation, which will invest 100% in the sales and services company.
The establishment of ZAMine Brasil will expand the mining business in the South American market by strengthening the system from new machinery sales to parts and service provision in the South American market, HCM says.
Expanding business in the Americas is one of the four core strategies stated in the HCM Group’s “BUILDING THE FUTURE 2025” medium-term management plan which started in fiscal year 2023. The North American market has been able to develop a robust network of dealers with an extensive sales and service system. However, in the South American market, which has a strong mining business, expansion had been limited until now.
The Central and South American market accounts for 23% of the global demand for rigid dump trucks and 9% of ultra-large hydraulic excavators (including dump trucks with a load capacity of 150 t or more and ultra-large hydraulic excavators with an operating weight of 190 t or more, (based on total unit demand from 2010 to March 2024)). Large quantities of copper, iron ore, gold, and other mineral resources are expected to grow in demand, and will in turn see increased mining in the future. Because there are many ultra-large hydraulic excavators from HCM operating in Brazil, the company expects to expand the sales of parts and services and increase the sales of new vehicles.
Marubeni Brasil S.A., a 100% wholly-owned subsidiary of Marubeni, has been leading mining machinery sales in Brazil since 2017. Hitachi Construction Machinery decided to establish ZAMine Brasil to strengthen its parts and service system for operating machinery. The company also plans to build a system to provide full maintenance and services to the customer network that Marubeni has nurtured through many years of business in Brazil.
Marubeni and HCM have been collaborating since the 1970s. They have jointly established and operated mining machinery sales and service companies in Australia and Ukraine. Additionally, Marubeni subsidiaries and affiliated companies have been selling mining machinery from HCM in Peru, Chile, Colombia and other countries. The two companies are committed to applying that experience to the establishment of ZAMine Brasil in Brazil, HCM says.
The HCM Group is restructuring its mining business for all of South America, including Brazil, and aims to achieve a sales revenue of ¥300 billion ($2.12 billion) or more in the Americas from full-scale independent business in its fiscal year 2025.
