Japanese steelmaker Nippon Steel Corp.'s Brazilian affiliate, Usina Siderurgica de Minas Gerais S.A. (Usiminas), is to invest Yen 300 billion ($2.5 billion) in a new blast furnace to meet the rising demand for automotive steel sheet.
Usiminas, which is 23 percent-owned by Nippon Steel, plans to complete the construction of the furnace by 2010, thereby lifting its annual crude steel production by 25 percent to 11.1 million metric tons.
Usiminas is expected to finance the project on its own.