Mittal Building Indian Steel Plant

Mittal Steel Co. announced plans to invest $9 billion on a steel plant in India. In return, the Indian government will assure an adequate supply of raw material, principally iron ore, to feed the mill. The supply will continue for 50 years.

Mittal, the largest steel maker in the world, expects to break ground on the 12 million metric ton plant within the next two years, according to a statement by Lakshmi Mittal, chairman of the company after signing the deal with the Jharkand state government.

According to press reports, Mittal Steel will initially set up a capacity of 6 million metric tons in the Indian state within four years and then double that capacity.

Mittal also announced that it has chosen Chicago as its U.S. headquarters. The company expects to have its new headquarters set up by the beginning of next year. The headquarters will result in bringing in management from Mittal’s U.S. operations that were in Northwest Indiana, Northeastern Ohio, and other parts of the country.

The U.S. company has operations or joint ventures in Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Mississippi, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and West Virginia. The U.S. operations has an annual production capacity of 21 million tons.