Chinese pipes and valves manufacturer Youfumi Valve & Pipe (Youfumi), which will showcase its products to the Southern African market at the 2015 South Africa Industrial and Technology Fair (Indutec), tells Engineering News that plans to investigate the viability of opening a manufacturing plant in South Africa are currently under way.

Part of the company’s plan is to attend Indutec workshops that focus on the Department of Trade and Industry’s (DTI’s) legislation on local manufacturing requirements for valves and related products, says Youfumi export sales director Shanshan Zhu.

“Our interest in South Africa is new and is being driven by the recent legislation passed by the DTI, which is pertinent to local manufacturing requirements, as it affects government and quasi-government departments and, ultimately, project allocation,” explains Zhu.
She further high- lights that Youfumi will announce the appointment of Midrand-based stainless steel supplier Energy Engineered Products, Boksburg-based pumps and valves supplier Sureseal South Africa, and valves and instrumentation specialist Fluid Tech, as the company’s official distributors in sub-Saharan Africa.

“When selecting these companies, we looked at their ability to keep products in stock and to service customers’ day-to-day product requirements. We also kept in mind their technical ability to service and solve problems that are inherent in the difficult corrosive applications that our products have been designed to handle,” says Zhu, adding that Youfumi is pleased that the three local distributors meet these requirements.

Youfumi has manufacturing facilities in Wenzhou and Fuijan, China, which produce more than 160 000 products yearly. The products are sold domestically throughout China and exported internationally to appointed stockholding distributors.

Zhu concludes that Youfumi’s stand at Indutec, which will take place at the Gallagher Convention Centre, in Midrand, from May 20 to 22, will showcase the company’s varying types of valves, pipes and pipe fittings, thermoplastic valves, pneumatic actuators, poly-tetrafluoroethylene bellows and hoses, with an emphasis on new and patented products, such as the low-torque lined ball valves, new-design lined butterfly valves and ceramic-lined valves.