South Korean steelmaker Dongkuk said that 5 million tonnes per annum USD 750 million slab plant in northeast Brazil's Ceará state remains firmly in the pipeline amid reports of delaying or even giving up on the construction of the Companhia Siderúrgica do Pecém.

A Dongkuk official said that "There was a little confusion and different interpretations in the media. The news actually came from an old project called Ceará Steel which was not formally erased from plans."

News reports in Brazil said that Dongkuk was reconsidering the CSP project due to high energy costs. Reports said that the project could be delayed or not concluded. In the Ceará Steel project, the idea was to fuel the plant with natural gas, but CSP will be fueled by coal.

A company spokesperson in Ceará capital Fortaleza said that the CSP project is on schedule. He added that "The project is in progress and we are waiting to see if JFE Steel joins us as well. JFE should be making a decision in January, but regardless of JFE's decision, the project remains."

Dongkuk is already partnering with Brazilian miner Vale in the CSP endeavor. They signed a MoU in November 2007 to build the plant in the industrial district of Pecém in Ceará. Ceará Steel would have been developed with federal oil company Petrobras and Italy's Danieli.

(Sourced from bnamericas.com)