new val at $2.43, page-24

China Steel, Baosteel form iron ore joint venture
The West Australian November 18, 2010, 2:07

China Steel, Baosteel form iron ore joint venture

The West Australian

China Steel, Taiwan's largest steel producer, says it plans to team up with China's Baosteel to invest in iron ore mines abroad.

China Steel has reached a consensus with Baosteel on a planned joint venture, the first between the two, a company official said.

It will mark a rare instance of companies from the two sides of the Taiwan Strait cooperating on ventures elsewhere in the world.

The Taiwanese steelmaker, which has investments in Australia and South Korea, has been exploring overseas opportunities in a bid to boost supply amid expectations that a global recovery will ratchet up demand.

Last year, China Steel spent $US95 million ($A97.3 million) on a stake in Brazil's Namisa, its first investment in a foreign iron ore miner.
China Steel imports about 16 million metric tonnes of iron ore every year with 71 per cent of the imports from Australia and about a quarter from Brazil.