Nippon Steel representative director, president and chief operating officer Tadashi Imai says his company will “seize global growth opportunities,” Kallanish discovers from a Nippon Steel press release on 1 April.
While actively pursuing the acquisition of US Steel, Nippon Steel outlines its rationale for expanding its business operations across the globe.
“We are expanding our integrated steelmaking business in growing markets, particularly in India, ASEAN, and North America following the completion of the planned acquisition of US Steel,” states Imai. “This means that we are entering a new stage in our global expansion. Japan needs to become the global headquarters that deploys necessary resources according to local needs and provides strong support for the sound development of local group companies.”
Nippon’s new president says the company faces challenges in Japan that make global expansion critical to the company’s success.
“In Japan, amid a declining population and a shift away from manufacturing to a service-based economy, a natural recovery in steel demand cannot be expected,” explains Imai. “We will take this time of great changes in society and capture new business opportunities to our advantage.”
Integral to Nippon’s plan moving forward are seizing global growth opportunities, becoming “a pioneer in decarbonisation, and [taking] a giant step forward as the ‘best steelmaker with world-leading capabilities’,” Imai says.
Nippon Steel has bid $15 billion for the acquisition of US Steel in an agreement that is under heavy scrutiny in the US (see Kallanish passim).
Kristen DiLandro USA
