CSN's new Portuguese mill forecast at 500,000t/y

More details of Brazilian flat steelmaker CSN's (NYSE: RIO) interest to build a rolling mill in Portugal have come out, but company spokespersons contacted by BNamericas reiterated that no investment has been approved. CSN is interested in building a mill with a 500,000t/y capacity (300,000t of galvanized and 200,000t of hot-rolled steel), business daily Gazeta Mercantil reported, citing Marcelo Araujo, CSN's VP of administration and equity holdings. "This is just a model. In the end, the investment could be more or less," he said. Technical studies are still being made to determine the best locale with adequate infrastructure and power sources. One possibility is to put the mill next to Lusosider, a cold-rolling mill in which CSN has a 50% stake. Lusosider posted revenue of 143mn euros (US$176mn) and forecasts investments of 8mn euros to boost production to 368,000t of galvanized and tinplate. Araujo also revealed that CSN wanted to retain 100% ownership of the new Portuguese project, and discarded the possibility of investing with another partner as was the case of Lusosider in which Anglo Dutch steel group Corus holds the other 50%. The acquisition and construction of processing mills abroad is key to CSN's international expansion and increase in steel production from its plants in Brazil.