ArcelorMittal to set up steel joint venture in China

Monday, 30 June 2008, 17:52 IST
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Beijing: ArcelorMittal, the world's leading steel making company headed by London-based Indian tycoon Laxmi Niwas Mittal, will set up a joint venture in China for producing steel for automobile industry. The new company, to be set up in the central province of Hunan, is expected to produce 1.2 million tonnes of automobile steel sheet annually, the company's China office here told Xinhua Saturday. ArcelorMittal, the Hunan-based Valin Group (VG) and the Valin Steel Tube and Wire (VSTW) signed an agreement Friday to set up the 5 billion yuan ($725 million) Valin ArcelorMittal Automotive Steel. While ArcelorMittal and VG will each hold 33 percent stake, VSTW will hold 34 percent in the joint venture scheduled to go into production by the end of 2010. Mittal, chief of the Luxembourg-based steel behemoth, said the move was part of his company's global strategy, aiming to better serve both global as well as domestic automotive clients by offering value-added products with the support of ArcelorMittal technology. The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) has said the steel requirement of the country's growing automobile industry would reach 12.55 million tonnes this year and possibly climb to 21.76 million tonnes by 2015. ArcelorMittal also has stake in the Hong Kong-listed China Oriental Group Co. Ltd., a domestic iron and steel maker.
Source: IANS