The signs at Nippon Steel read: “The world through steel,” underlining why Japan’s top steelmaker is pursuing its USD 15bn bid to acquire U.S. Steel.
“We can’t expect demand in Japan to grow as the population is declining. We need to invest in production that leads to growth,” a company official, Masato Suzuki, said Friday while giving reporters a look at a Nippon Steel plant in Ibaraki prefecture, north of Tokyo.
Nippon Steel Corp. has its eyes on India, Southeast Asia, and the U.S., Suzuki said. About 70% of the plant’s output is exported.
The Tokyo-based company remains optimistic, although the deal is opposed by President-elect Donald Trump, President Joe Biden, and American steelworkers.
During the tour, slabs of steel, glowing hot-orange at more than 1,000 degrees Celsius (1,800 Fahrenheit), rolled through the cavernous plant to become giant spools of super-thin steel.
Nippon Steel officials didn’t disclose details of the fine technology they said the planned acquisition would offer U.S. Steel.
Under the proposed deal, first announced in 2023, U.S. Steel would keep its name and its headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, becoming a subsidiary of Nippon Steel.
