Chairman of the Japan Iron and Steel Federation Considers Mittal Steel’s Acquisition Offer

Akio Mimura, the chairman of the Japan Iron and Steel Federation (JISF) and the president of Nippon Steel, said in the regular interview of JISF on Thursday that acquisition offer of Mittal Steel, the world’s biggest steel maker, to Arcelor is a big issue for Japanese steel makers, and Japanese steel makers must consider how they manage their companies against this acquisition. As for this acquisition, he analyzed that this acquisition is symbolic as big movement in the world of steel industry in China and Russia. He said as the president of his company which is cooperating with Arcelor that he thinks with the profit against how his company uses the capital binding clause with Arcelor. Further, he pointed out that there is only 3% of the world share by Nippon Steel and consider production scale if a maker which produce at 100 million tonnes per year is born. As for the price negotiations of the materials such as coal or iron ore, he thinks that the status of the coal price negotiations is 50-70% and Japanese steel makers can reach a certain lowering prices though a not equal to variety. He said that the zinc price hike is a big issue nowadays, and it is difficult to clear this issue by the development of the mine advance.As for the price negotiations of the iron ore, he said that the status of the negotiations is delay more than usual, and the selling prices of the material suppliers are not present and he can’t say for the price negotiations with the steel users such as automobile before the price negotiations of the iron ore get determined.