Nippon Steel to Spend $170m on New Capacity

Reuters reported that Nippon Steel Corp. that it would spend $170m to boost production capacity for high-grade shipbuilding plate at its Oita plant in western Japan by 600,000 tonnes a year. It would be the biggest investment in shipbuilding plates in 30 years for the world's second-biggest steel maker since it installed a shipbuilding plate line at the plant in 1977.

The capacity increase is aimed to cope with higher demand for steel used in tankers and container ships, Nippon Steel said. The Oita plant is capable of producing 2.2 million tonnes a year of shipbuilding plates at present. A new machine to roll steel and a second line to cut plates will be introduced at the plant by the first half of 2009, the company said.