Japanese steel maker studies Guangzhou's potential

Japan-based JFE Holdings unit JFE Steel agreed to join with Guangzhou Iron & Steel Enterprises Group in a feasibility study of joining forces on an integrated steelworks in Guangzhou. JFE Steel said the study would take a year. According to a report in Nihon Keizai Shimbun, JFE Steel, the world's fourth-largest crude steel producer, had decided last year to build a blast furnace on a joint venture basis with a still-to-be-decided partner in China. Project estimates then put the cost at 100 billion yen (US$902.9 million).