Nippon Steel Corp plans to double crude steel output capacity at its India’s Hazira plant to secure more of the growing market. It is done to expand a growing concern about a slowdown in the global economy amid rising interest rates.
“We are accelerating investment in India,” Takahiro Mori, executive vice president at Nippon Steel, told Reuters on Tuesday. “In terms of steel, India is regarded as the only market that will grow significantly.”
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“Our main purpose is to grab growing local demand,” he said, adding that Nippon Steel would consider further expanding Hazira and building a new steel mill in eastern India. “The acquisition will give higher flexibility for AM/NS to expand operations,” Mori said.
The steelmaker’s company faces volatile coal prices for cooking, iron ore and raw material caused by the Ukraine crisis and the China market.
The net profit of Nippon Steel company fell to 6 per cent. The company has a plan to hike sales prices by at least 40,000 yen ($287) a tonne for the third and fourth quarters, compared with the first and second quarters, Mori said.
“We have borne the impact of higher material costs and the lower yen,” Mori said. “We are determined not to give in to passing on the higher costs to product prices.”
