|
JFE has yet to decide on Southeast Asian steel plant
Japan’s JFE Holdings Inc., the world's third-largest steelmaker, has yet to decide on plans to build a blast-furnace factory in Southeast Asia to meet demand in the region.
Construction and other details haven't been worked out, the company said Tuesday in a statement, denying a Japanese newspaper report the mill would begin production as early as 2012.
JFE is “studying” building a blast furnace in either the Philippines, Vietnam or Thailand or elsewhere in Asia, Haruyuki Imamura, vice president of unit JFE Steel Corp., told reporters on October 15 in Tokyo. JFE said last April it wants to build plants outside Japan as domestic steel demand slows. None of Japan's blast-furnace steelmakers operates mills overseas.
The factory would cost about 500 billion yen (US$4.9 billion) and have a capacity of six million tons of crude steel a year, the Nikkei reported Monday, without saying where it got the information. Construction would begin as early as 2010, it said.
JFE supplies carmakers and other Japanese manufacturers worldwide sheet steel and other products.
Thanhnien
|
