CVRD to form joint venture steel plants in Brazil

CVRD to form joint venture steel plants in Brazil

Brazilian mining giant Companhia Vale do Rio Doce (CVRD) and US steel producer Nucor Corp's joint venture pig iron plant will reportedly come on stream in October 2005. The plant in Maraba in Brazil's northern Para state is part of a joint venture worth $80 million between the two companies. Moreover, CVRD will build a steel complex in Brazil in partnership with German steel producer ThyssenKrupp. $2.2 billion is planned to be invested in the steel complex. Sources report that the two companies signed a memorandum of understanding with the Rio de Janeiro state government to build the steel complex. The two companies will build a 4 million-ton steel slab plant near the Rio de Janeiro state port of Sepetiba. Production at the planned plant is scheduled to start in 2008. CVRD officials stated that they try to encourage foreign investors, foreign steel producers and Brazilian steel producers to invest in Brazil in order to increase steel production in the country.