Nippon Steel to build new facility in Brazil: report

Nippon Steel to build new facility in Brazil: report
AFP - 2 hours 13 minutes ago

TOKYO (AFP) - Japan's Nippon Steel Corp. plans to build a new production facility in Brazil amid stiff competition with rivals such as ArcelorMittal in fast-growing economies, a report said Tuesday.

Japan's biggest steelmaker Nippon Steel expects to spend between 500 and 600 billion yen (5.0-6.0 billion dollars) on the mill in the southeastern city of Cubatao, the Nikkei business daily said without citing sources.

Nippon Steel is expected to begin construction this year through a joint venture with local affiliate Usinas Siderurgicas de Minas Gerais SA, or Usiminas. The mill is due to begin operating in 2011, the daily said.

But the company said the report was incorrect.

"Nippon Steel does not plan nor intend to build a furnace as reported in the article. We are currently in the process of mulling a plan announced last August that Usiminas would construct a furnace," a company spokesman said.

The report said it would be Nippon Steel's first new mill since 1971 and its fifth fully integrated production site.

A first blast furnace would be built for about 300 billion yen with an annual output of three million tons while a second furnace would be added as early as 2015, doubling production to six million tons, the report said.

Usiminas facilities will process part of the intermediate steel material made at the new complex for sales in South America, while unfinished material would be shipped to the US and Europe to make automotive steel sheets, it said.

Competition between the world's largest steelmakers is intensifying amid a scramble to supply a construction boom in fast-growing emerging economies such as China and India.

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新日鉄、海外初の高炉・ブラジルで5000億円超、欧米輸出拠点に

　新日本製鉄はブラジルに大型製鉄所を建設する方向で最終調整に入った。総額5000億―6000億円を投じ、2011年に稼働する計画。現地鉄鋼大手ウジミナスとの合弁生産で、新日鉄が過半を出資して主導権を握る見通し。日本の鉄鋼大手が海外で鉄鉱石から粗鋼を生産する高炉方式の大型製鉄所を持つのは初めて。新興国で鋼材需要が急増するなか、世界最大手の欧州アルセロール・ミタルはアジアなど成長市場で攻勢を強めている。新日鉄はミタルに対抗し、欧米を含む世界の主要市場に供給できるグローバル生産体制を目指す。

　新日鉄が23.4％出資し実質傘下に置くウジミナスと合弁会社を設立して生産する。週内にもウジミナスが建設方針を決め、5月までに両社で合弁形態など詳細を詰める。新日鉄が過半を出資して主導権をもつ方向で調整している。