President of Japanese steel producer Nippon Steel, Mr. Akio Mimura, has said that the world's largest steel producer ArcelorMittal will start supplying steel sheets and other steel products to Japanese carmakers starting operations in Russia.
Mr. Mimura went on to add that it is economically unprofitable to ship steel from Japan to Russia and therefore the company is leaving steel supplies to Japanese carmakers in Russia to ArcelorMittal, to which Nippon Steel provides technical assistance.
Currently, due to the high auto demand in Russia, many of the world's major carmakers are eager to launch production in the country. Toyota Motor Corp., Nissan Motor Co., Suzuki Motor Corp., and Isuzu Motors Ltd. are among the Japanese automakers which are either setting up production in Russia or planning to do so.