China's Anshan Iron and Steel Group said on May 17 that it had signed an equity investment agreement with U.S. mill Steel Development Company that includes the construction of five new U.S. plants.

The first plant will be built in Amory, Mississippi and will mainly target the southeastern United States and Latin American markets.

The deal, which was signed May 14, was structured so as to meet U.S. government requirements that steel used in infrastructure projects funded by a massive American stimulus package come from local manufacturers.

The Mississippi state government will help subsidize the Amory plant.

Chinese commerce ministry spokesman Yao Jian said the government supported efforts by the country's steel companies to move into overseas markets. "The cooperation between China and the United States in the manufacturing sector, including the steel industry, will help improve [China's] manufacturing technologies, the use of clean energy, and so on," he said at a briefing. "I think it is a good thing."

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2010