South Korean steelmaker Hyundai Steel Company, a unit of Hyundai Motor Group, announced on Friday that it will build a Won 5.24-trillion (around $5.5 billion) steel mill in order to ensure steel supplies for automakers.
The country's No.2 steelmaker after POSCO said the mill will have a capacity of 7 million metric tons when it is completed in 2011.
The company is also planning to invest an additional Won 2.26 trillion (around $2.4 billion) to expand capacity to 12 million metric tons by 2015.
Hyundai Steel plans to use its own cash to fund half of the Won 5.24 trillion, while it will obtain the remaining funds externally.
When the expansion is completed by 2015, Hyundai Steel is expected to have an annual
production capacity of 22.5 million metric tons of crude steel, becoming the world's sixth-largest steelmaker.