German industrial group ThyssenKrupp and Brazil's Cia Vale do Rio Doce are to build a new, 2 billion-euro ($2.4 billion) steel plant in Brazil, a newspaper reported.

Thyssen would hold a majority stake in the plant with CVRD, the world's top iron ore miner, holding a minority, Thyssen's Chief Executive Ekkehard Schulz said in an interview to be published in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung's Thursday edition.

The plant would produce up to 5 million steel rolls per year, mostly for sale to the NAFTA North American Free Trade Area and to be used in Thyssen's German steel mills.

ThyssenKrupp Steel's Chief Executive Ulrich Middelmann said last week the company was considering building a new steel plant for roughly $1.5 billion in Australia, Brazil or Russia in order to profit from the continued high demand for steel products.

(From Reuters, October 13, 2004)

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