Among the BRIC group of emerging nations, Brazil will outdo both India and Russia if CSN succeeds in the deal with Corus, Brazilian Steel Institute president Luis Andr Rico Vicente was quoted in a report by steel industry information provider, Steel Business Briefing.
"China is out of reach, of course, but with an eventual acquisition of Corus by CSN, and with international expansions by other Brazilian companies like Gerdau Group, our country would have a good chance of passing India and Russia in the current worldwide consolidation of the industry," he said.
India and Brazil are currently neck-to-neck in terms of steel production, both in the range of 34-38 million tonnes of output every year and among the world's top ten producers.
China, on the other hand, is the world's largest steel producer with annual production of about 350 million tonnes. Russia has total steel production of about 54 MT per year.
At a recent seminar in Sao Paulo, Vicente and other IBS directors said that Brazil's steel output would grow by over 30 per cent in the next four years, the SBB report said.
Meanwhile, global metal consultancy firm GFMS said in a recent report that India could become the next China in the steel sector by 2011, but there are also some hurdles to overcome.
Availability of domestic iron ore, an experienced cadre of metallurgical engineers, cheap labour and a vibrant class of steel entrepreneurs and executives hope to turn India into a low-cost, globally-competitive steel making nation to feed rising domestic and global demand.
Hurdles like limited domestic coking coal resources, high costs of capital, economic constraints in terms of infrastructure and multiple political restrictions could result in delay.
Tata's plan to acquire Corus has already brought the Indian steel industry into the spotlight. High international steel prices coupled with soaring domestic demand have triggered an investment boom in the Indian steel industry.
This environment has also attracted two leading global steelmakers Posco and Mittal Steel to attempt to enter the market.
According to a recent report by Hong Kong-based research firm CLSA, China and India together consume about 35 per cent of the world's steel produce, which is likely to grow to 41 per cent by 2010.
Tata Steel and CSN have annual steel output of 5-6 million tonnes, while that of Corus is estimated at around 20 million tonnes.
