Taiwan steel firm mulls joint venture with China

News was prepared under the information support of Online Daily Newspaper on Hellenic and international Shipping "Hellenic Shipping News".

19 Nov 2010

China Steel, Taiwan's largest steel producer, said Thursday it plans to team up with China's Baosteel to invest in iron ore mines abroad. China Steel has reached a consensus with Baosteel on a planned joint venture, the first between the two, a company official said. It will mark a rare instance of companies from the two sides of the Taiwan Strait cooperating on ventures elsewhere in the world.
The Taiwanese steelmaker, which has investments in Australia and South Korea, has been exploring overseas opportunities in a bid to boost supply amid expectations that a global recovery will ratchet up demand.
Last year China Steel spent 95 million US dollars on a stake in Brazil's Namisa SA, its first investment in a foreign iron ore miner.
China Steel imports about 16 million metric tonnes of iron ore every year with 71 percent of the imports from Australia and about a quarter from Brazil.

Source: AFP