Update: ANZ Loans US$120 Mln to Expand Vietnam's Iron, Steel Plant
Australia-New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) has agreed to lend state-run Thai Nguyen Cast Iron and Steel Co (Tisco) US$120 million with 13- year tenor to expand a steel ingot production in the northern Thai Nguyen province.
The remaining investment for the VND 4 trillion (US$250 million) expansion project is sourced from the state budget, said a Tisco senior official.
The project, kicked off construction September 29 by China’s Metallurgy Construction Corp., is among seven key projects within the national program to develop the country’s steel sector from now to 2015, he stressed.
The project is aimed to exploit iron ore in Tien Bo mine for the province’s metallurgy complex with capacity of 500,000 tons of steel ingot each year, raising annual combined output of the facility to 750,000 tons.
All the steel ingot will be used for domestic consumption, mainly for affiliates of Thai Nguyen Cast & Iron Co, the Tisco official noted.
Vietnam steel makers currently are heavily reliant on imported ingot steel, mainly from China.
The country is forecast to need 10 million tons of steel annually by 2010, 15 million by 2015 and 20 million by 2020. (ANZ Press Release)
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