Nippon Steel plans $6 billion investment in its Japanese mills
Nippon Steel, the Japanese company embroiled in a lengthy battle to buy U.S. Steel, said it plans to spend ¥869 billion ($6 billion) at home to expand output from cleaner furnaces.
The investments in electric arc furnaces — which use scrap metal as a raw material — will be spread across three of the steelmakers' mills, and as much as 29% of the funding will come from the government, Nippon Steel said in a statement.
The spending in Japan comes at a critical juncture for the firm's 17-month push to acquire the American steelmaker, with U.S. President Donald Trump poised to speak about the deal during a visit to a U.S. Steel plant later on Friday.
While Trump offered his backing for the acquisition last week, key details about the final structure and conditions of any deal remained unclear. The president said there would be a "partnership' that would invest $14 billion in U.S. steelmaking.
Nippon Steel said it would build a new electric arc furnace at its Kyushu works, while expanding and restarting capacity at two other sites. Total capacity from the new investments would be 2.9 million metric tons a year, it said.
Steelmakers worldwide are trying to pivot to less carbon-intensive production methods — including electric arc furnaces — sometimes with support from governments that are pushing to decarbonize heavy industries.
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