Japan's Sumitomo Metal Industries will set up a joint venture with Taiwan's China Steel.
China Steel said it received approval from the Vietnam government on May 12 to establish the joint venture, to be capitalzed at $1.15 billion.
China Steel will take a 51% stake in the new venture, China Steel Sumikin Vietnam Joint Stock Co., which is expected to produce 1.6 million metric tons of cold rolled steel products annually for auto and home appliance use.
While the global economy has been hard hit by financial woes, "the partners of the joint venture will go ahead with the project based on our long term investment strategies," China Steel said.
The joint venture is aimed at markets in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2009
