POSCO in joint venture with Indonesian steelmaker

SEOUL: South Korea's largest steelmaker POSCO said it signed an agreement Wednesday with Indonesia's Krakatau Steel to set up a joint venture in the Southeast Asian country.

The steel mill will be built at Cilegon in West Java in two phases. When the first phase is completed by 2013, it will have an annual capacity of three million tons.

Completion of the second phase will double capacity but no timeframe for that has been set so far.

POSCO will own 70 percent of the venture. Krakatau will hold the remaining 30 percent but may increase its share to 45 percent later, POSCO said.

"We will actively consider investment in infrastructure, energy and various other projects in cooperation with PT Krakatau," POSCO chairman Chung Joon-Yang said at the signing ceremony in Jakarta.