Japan's Nippon Steel sets sights on a growing overseas market in its bid to acquire US Steel
The signs at Nippon Steel read: “The world through steel,” underlining why Japan’s top steelmaker is pursuing its $15 billion bid to acquire U.S. Steel
KASHIMA, Japan — The signs at Nippon Steel read: “The world through steel,” underlining why Japan’s top steelmaker is pursuing its $15 billion 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.
Nippon Steel already has manufacturing operations in the U.S. and Mexico, China and Southeast Asia. It supplies the world’s top automakers, including Toyota Motor Corp., and makes steel for railways, pipes, appliances and skyscrapers.
The American steel industry has waned as Chinese steelmakers have grown to dominate the market. Japan wants to leverage the decades-old U.S.-Japan security
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