TOKYO (Thomson Financial) - Japan's largest steelmaker, Nippon Steel Corp, plans to spend 500-600 billion yen on a steelworks in Brazil, launching the first vertically integrated production site operated overseas by a major Japanese steelmaker, the Nikkei reported on Tuesday, without citing sources.
Through a joint venture with local affiliate Usinas Siderurgicas de Minas Gerais SA, or Usiminas, Nippon Steel plans to begin construction within the year, the business daily said.
The mill, slated to go on-stream in 2011, would be Nippon Steel's first since the 1971 launch of its Oita works.
The first blast furnace will be built for slightly less than 300 billion yen and have an annual output of 3 million tons, with plans calling for a second furnace to be added as soon as the mid-2010s, doubling production to 6 million tons.
This is on a par with major steelworks in Japan and equivalent to about 5 percent of domestic gross output, the report said.
(1 US dollar = 100.73 yen)
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