The Hindu Business Line : Tata Steel to tie up with Arcelor for flat products unit

The Euro 26 billion Groupe Arcelor is currently the world's second largest steel producer (over 44 million tonnes) after L N Mittal's Ispat International.

Talking to Business Line at the sidelines of the Metals 2004 conference organised by the Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) here on Thursday, the Tata Steel deputy Managing Director, Dr T. Mukherjee, said that both parties have expressed keen interest in working together.

While not spelling out the details of the proposed collaboration, Dr Mukherjee said, "Arcelor has the technology and funds. We are also not short of funds. Both of us have already expressed interest in working together. I expect the MoU will be signed by the end of this fiscal."

Stating that the details of product plan and other formalities are yet to be worked out, he said that in order to pave way for the investment, Tata Steel was working on building port facilities first. The company has signed a MoU with the Orisa Government on October 29 for developing a port at Dhamra.

Asked whether the new plant would produce auto grade steel, Dr Mukherjee hinted that the plant would be producing a wider range of products. "If it were only auto grade steel, it could be manufactured at our Jamshedpur plant," he said in a lighter vein.

During his recent tour of India, Mr Francis Vassort, Chairman of Imphy Ugine Precision (IUP) - the stainless steel and alloy division of Arcelor - was said to have been negotiating with Tata Steel for producing galvanised steel for the automobile industry.

IUP has already tied up with Saw Pipes of Jindal group to form IUP-Jindal Hexa Metals Ltd. The joint venture will manufacture stainless steel and nickel alloy precision strips and other value-added products.

Arcelor has previously granted Tata Steel a technology licence for manufacturing hot dip galvanized (HDG) products for the auto industry. The HDG products are to be manufactured at Tata Steel's continuous galvanizing line at Jamshedpur.

Under the agreement, Tata Steel was also granted licence for use of Arcelor's proprietary product `Extragal' including the trademark and associated know-how. The company was also assured assistance in providing total steel solutions to the Indian automotive sector.

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