JFE to Establish Auto Steel Sheet JV in Mexico

Tokyo, June 9 (Jiji Press)--JFE Steel Corp. said Thursday it will set up a joint firm in Mexico with Nucor Corp., a major U.S. steelmaker, to manufacture and sell steel sheets for automobiles. Total investment in the fifty-fifty joint venture between the unit of JFE Holdings Inc. <5411> and the North Carolina-based company will stand at 360 million dollars. JFE Steel hopes to start the operation of Nucor-JFE Steel Mexico in 2019. The Japanese steelmaker plans to build a plant with an annual output capacity of some 400,000 tons of coated steel plates in the central Mexico region of Bajio, an automotive industry cluster. It expects demand for steel sheets will increase as Mexico is growing as a hub to supply automobiles to the United States. Through the joint venture, JFE Steel aims to provide mainly Japanese, European and U.S. automakers operating in Mexico with steel products. END