Taiwan’s largest steelmaker China Steel Corp is to buy two 0.5% stakes in an iron ore group.
It will buy the stakes in Brazilian iron ore producer Namisa from Sumitomo Metal Industries and from Itochu Corp, costing $94.17M. With this move, China Steel said it seeks to secure overseas iron ore supplies amid expectations that a global recovery will eventually increase demand.
The iron ore project in question is estimated to have a proven reserve of 1.4bnt. Brazil’s Companhia Siderurgica Nacional (CSN) owns a 60% stake in Namisa, while other shareholders include Japan’s Nippon Steel, JFE Steel, Kobe Steel and Nisshin Steel as well as South Korea-based Posco.
China Steel, which imports 16Mt of iron ore every year with 71% of imports from Australia and about 25% from Brazil, expects Namisa to supply 300kt/y of iron ore in the first phase of investment, while the supply is expected to reach 500kt/y in the long term.
