Vietnam gives green light to POSCO steel plant

The Vietnamese government has given approval to South Korean steelmaker POSCO to build a $361-million cold rolled steel plant in the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau. The steel plant, which is scheduled to begin operations in late 2009, will produce 700,000 tons of cold rolled steel annually. POSCO said that, if the Southeast Asian market grows, it will build a 3 million-ton capacity hot rolled steel plant in Vietnam and more than double the capacity of the cold rolled steel plant to 1.5 million tons.