Nippon Steel and ArcelorMittal JV to Spend $5B to Increase Capacity

Indian joint venture ArcelorMittal and Nippon Steel will invest 410 billion rupees ($5 billion) to increase crude steel production capacity by 6 million tonnes a year at its Hazira plant, the Japanese company said on Wednesday.

The AM/NS India joint venture will build two blast furnaces, as well as many other facilities, at its Hazira plant in western India, and plans to start operations by mid-2026.

The expansion is aimed at meeting the growing demand for steel in India and gaining more market share.

After the expansion, the annual steel production at the Hazira plant will increase to around 15 million tons.

AM/NS India is also considering building a new steel plant in eastern India, while the Hazira plant will expand even beyond 15 million tons, said Takahiro Mori, executive vice president of Nippon Steel.

“In order to ensure a good presence, we want to gain about 15% share in the Indian market, where the annual production of crude steel is expected to grow to about 200 million tons by 2030,” Mori said at a press conference.

“Therefore, we want to increase the production capacity of AM/NS India to around 30 million tons by 2030,” he said.

Nippon Steel, the world's fourth-largest steelmaker, also has its own goal of increasing its steel group's capacity to 100mt in the future from 66mt currently.

After the announced expansion of the Hazira plant, as well as the planned closure of some plants in Japan, this figure will reach 70 million tons.

Mori said the remaining 30 million tons will likely come from further expansion in India, ASEAN and the US.

Mori recently revealed that Nippon Steel plans to nearly double the crude steel production capacity of its Hazira plant to supply most of the growing market.