Nippon Steel to set up jv plant in Mexico

Nippon Steel to set up joint venture plant in Mexico. Nippon Steel Corp. said Tuesday it will build a plant to manufacture automotive steel sheets in Mexico in a joint venture with Luxembourg-based steelmaker Ternium S.A. to capitalize on growing demand in emerging markets for materials used in the production of vehicles. The two companies said they expect to invest a total of about $350 million over two and a half years in the plant, which will have a production capacity of about 400,000 tons per year. They will begin production of high-grade steel sheets to be used for vehicle bodies around 2013. Nippon Steel has supplied Japanese automakers with operations in Mexico by exporting steel sheets produced in Japan, but it decided to manufacture locally on the back of an expanding automobile market in Mexico. It will be the company's sixth overseas joint venture for automotive steel sheets following the United States, Brazil, China, India and Thailand.