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Japan's Nippon Steel and Mittal Steel Co. will spend a combined 30 billion yen (258 million dollars) to build a new automotive steel sheet plant at their US joint venture， a report said.
The move by Japan's largest steelmaker and Mittal， the biggest producer in the world， would double annual production capacity at the factory to one mi
llion tons， the Nihon Keizai Shimbun said.
Through the production increase， Nippon Steel plans to strengthen ties with Mittal， which has fortified its global market dominance through the recent acquisition of Arcelor， the newspaper said.
The 50-50 joint venture in Indiana， called I/N Kote， counts Toyota Motor， Nissan Motor and Honda Motor among its customers.
The new plant， to be built on the premises of I/N Kote， is due to come onstream by 2008， the newspaper said.
日本新日铁公司决定扩大同米塔尔公司的合作，双方将共同出资300亿日元（约合258亿美元），由美国合资公司建一家专门生产汽车用钢板的新工厂。
据《日本经济新闻》介绍， 合作双方一个是日本最大的钢铁生产商，一个算是世界最大的钢铁巨擘，新工厂建成后年产能将倍增至100万吨。
报道还称，随着产品的不断增加，新日铁希望通过与米塔尔合作，强化极具成长潜力的汽车钢板业务，在收购全球第二大钢铁企业卢森堡阿赛洛集团之后，米塔尔进一步巩固了自己在业界的统治地位。
这家名为“I/N Kote”的合资公司由双方对半出资，位于美国印第安纳州，主要服务对象是丰田、日产和本田等厂商。
新工厂将由I/N Kote公司负责建设，预计将在2008年建成投产。
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